Shaka The Unshakable (ON HOLD)
by impactbluefxdwg
Summary: A lone human with a powerful ability ends up in a different world where dinosaurs rule, and with the help of 7 particular youngling dinosaurs we all know and love, and with the help of his fearlessness, he must do his best to earn himself respect, and a place in the Great Valley. Little does he know that his deeds will leave him remembered forever in the dinosaur world...
1. 1-1-1: A Human's New Home

_1_

A lone human walked through a rocky desert, the early morning sky above him. He wore a shirt and pants, just like any human, except that they were close, but not tight, allowing him a great deal of mobility. Anyone who judged him by his clothes would say that he was dressed for hand-to-hand combat. He was moderately skinned, looking almost like he was white, except he was just a little darker skinned, and he had dark brown hair to compliment it. His chestnut eyes had a determined look on them. But anyone who thought that he was on earth was wrong, for this world was not his own.

He originally lived on Earth, just like any other human, and he was from South Africa. He was born from a marriage between a Scottish Man and a Zulu woman who had fallen for each other, resulting in why his skin was a little darker than you would expect for someone who was white, and it also explained why he was fluent in English (albeit with a mild Scottish accent) and Zulu. However, because of this mixed background, he was relentlessly bullied and called things like "half-breed" and "mongrel", so he hated his life on Earth. But the Earth that he lived on was an alternate version of Earth where many humans, him included, had an ability called "bending", which allowed humans to utilize elements, which were Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and their derivatives. And he was capable of learning all 4 elements fairly quickly. This allowed him to be able to do something to keep the bullies out of his mind, and because of this, he had now mastered all four of them, something that very few humans could claim to do, let alone at such a young age. But this didn't stop the bullying.

So when he finally got something no one else could have possibly dreamed of: a chance to go to another world, he took it graciously. Once he got to this world, which he was on now, he took notes from his Zulu half and renamed himself Shaka, after the most famous of the Zulu kings. Shaka, as he was now known as, was hoping to find a better life on this mysterious new world, but what he didn't expect was that it was ruled by dinosaurs, not humans. Not that he would really care. Anyone was better than another human right now.

But as Shaka walked through the desert, he heard two roars, and he turned around to find two Yutyrannuses snarling at him. A normal person would just scream in terror and try to run. But Shaka, who wasn't easily scared by anything, just looked at them. He had the ability of bending, and he was pretty sure that they hadn't seen seen a human before, so they would likely have no idea how to fight a bender. Plus, as he looked over them, he noticed that they were covered in feathers. And since he knew that feathers could burn, he now knew what element he was going to fight them with.

Fire.

Shaka turned back around, as if to just walk away without noticing the two Yutyrannuses, but then he turned back to the sharpteeth and unleashed two long streams of fire at them. The two jets of fire set the feathers of the carnivores alight the moment they struck them, engulfing them in flames. As if on cue, they ran away in panic, roaring something that sounded almost like "Fire, Fire, Fire!". Shaka cracked a sly grin for a moment before turning back around, continuing on his journey.

"Well, that was random." Shaka said to himself, amused.

Just a few moments later, Shaka leaned against a rock wall to rest. He was comfortable with the heat, and always had been, and he wasn't sweating much, if at all, because he could tell that it wasn't at the hottest time of the year. So, while the weather was dry, it was comfortable. He could spot a nearby water hole anyways, so water wasn't much of a problem.

 _2_

Just a minute of resting later, though, Shaka was treated with an unusual sight. On the rocks in front of him (about 50 feet away), Shaka spotted 5 dinosaurs (well, 4 dinosaurs and one pterosaur, but it'll be kept as 5 dinosaurs to make it easier to say) walking along, and they all looked young. There was a young Apatosaurus, a young Triceratops, a young Saurolophus, a young Pteranodon, and a young Stegosaurus. But that wasn't the most unusual thing about it, though. The most unusual thing was that they talked!

"When are we gonna find water?" the young triceratops asked with the voice of a snappish little girl.

"The water doesn't come to us, nope, nope, nope." the young saurolophus, who was riding on the young stegosaurus, answered, also with the voice of a little girl, though sounding much nicer. "We need to find it, we do, we do."

The young stegosaurus grunted something to back the young saurolophus up. Shaka could easily tell that this one wasn't a talker.

"Me see water!" the young pteranodon suddenly exclaimed with the voice of a little boy, albeit with a verbal tic, pointing at the nearby water hole.

"Good job!" the young apatosaurus responded, also with the voice of a little boy, though sounding more normal and mature. "Now, let's get some water!" Shaka guessed that this one was the leader of the little group.

But just as the 5 young dinosaurs had started moving towards the puddle, Shaka got up from leaning against the stone wall and walked towards the water hole. As he did, the young dinosaurs noticed him and stopped in their tracks. When he was at the water hole, he turned to look at the dinosaurs, squinting because of the bright sun in the sky. Unfortunately, his squinting had apparently made him look to the young dinosaurs like he was angry, and they backed away a little bit. Shaka didn't know that he was scaring them, and he took a few steps in their direction to keep up with them, making them back off even more. But that's when the 5 young dinosaurs screamed something at him.

 **"SHARPTOOTH!"**

Apparently, the 5 young dinosaurs mistook him for a predator, and they ran away as fast as they could, their faces filled with fright. Realizing this, Shaka didn't want to scare them even more, so he just followed their footprints.

* * *

 **Okay, I know that you might think that Shaka is a mary sue, what with the power to control the elements and all, but this is incorrect for a few reasons:**

 **1. Shaka isn't overpowered. Well, not too much, anyways. Shaka's ability to control the elements is a story element that I took from Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend Of Korra and put in what I like to call a "crossover platform", which is a basis for where I can make crossovers with various movies, video games, and tv series's. This crossover platform is what I'm going to be using in any human-insert series that I make, and it's basically an alternate version of the real world where bending exists and is a common ability. Now, as for Shaka's bending ability, it may seem to make him a mary sue, as it's common in various mary sue fanfics for the mary sue to have some sort of extremely powerful skill at a young age, and in ATLA and TLOK, only one person (the avatar) can bend all 4 elements. But the bending in my crossover platform is far different. Here, anyone who has the ability of bending can learn all 4 elements if he or she wants to. However, people still usually learn just one element and stick with it, since they have other things to do in life most of the time. Shaka, however, devoted almost all of his time to bending, so because of that, he was able to master all 4 elements by the age of 14 (he's 15-16 at the moment). To reign back his power, Shaka hasn't really trained himself for hand-to-hand combat, so he is much like an archer: he DOMINATES at long range (explaining why battles against large, slow moving sharpteeth are a piece of cake for him, just look at the yutyrannuses), but if someone who is small, fast, and fights with melee combat (like a hatchling dinosaur who knows how to fight at close range, for example) is his opponent, he's going to have a lot of trouble fighting.**

 **2. Shaka's relations with the gang aren't perfect. I know that a lot of these mary sue fics with TLBT have the mary sue and the gang befriending each other almost immediately. To fix this, Shaka doesn't immediately become friends with the gang. In fact, in their first meeting, the gang actually fights him! The fight, and the reasons behind it, will be explained in a few chapters.**

 **3. Shaka isn't the only new action guy around here. I know that in these mary sue fics, only the mary sue is powerful, and sometimes, the canon characters are often weaker, as the stories of these fics revolve around the mary sue protecting them. I'm not doing that, though. Instead, I've made it so that the gang is adaptationally tougher in this fic, and they are also much tougher mentally as well, now being able to keep a clear head in a tough spot.**

 **With that out of the way, hopefully you'll understand that making a mary sue isn't my intent. Anyways, enjoy the story!**

* * *

 **By the way, there's a soundtrack to this fanfic. You might notice numbers on random areas in each chapter, and these are the points where the various songs listed at the bottom of the chapter will play. Of course, they come from a variety of movies and games (though I have been playing a lot of Civilization V and Fire Emblem Fates recently), so when it comes to soundtracks, expect the unexpected on this one. Here are 1 and 2 for you.**

1\. Shaka Zulu (Peace) - Civilization 5 (PC)

2\. How Can That Be? - Fire Emblem Fates (3DS)


	2. 1-1-2: A Hostile New Creature?

_3_

Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike, walked through the desert almost aimlessly. The 5 of them had decided to go on another adventure, since they were quite bored, and they were tired of always being treated like hatchlings (you know, babies). They wanted to show their parents that they weren't newborns anymore, and deserved to be respected. Usually, they could find their way back to the Great Valley (their home) without much trouble (aside from the occasional sharptooth, which they could actually deal with quite easily).

But this time, they had gotten lost, and they were now wandering aimlessly around in the mysterious beyond (the area beyond the valley). This was something that they had never dealt with before, so their morale was starting to drop. To dangerously low levels, at that.

"I'm sorry for getting you guys lost." Littlefoot moaned. "I think this is it."

"It was the fault of all 5 of us." Cera muttered. "I'm sorry for suggesting the idea in the first place."

"I knew we were going to get lost at some point, yep yep yep." Ducky sadly added. "But I just wanna go home, I do, I do."

"Me too, Ducky, me too." Petrie responded.

Spike only gave a sad groan.

But suddenly, they heard several roars in rapid succession. They turned to their right and saw two feathered sharpteeth running in their direction.

Well, they USED to have feathers.

 _4_

The two sharpteeth were on fire, almost completely engulfed in flames, and their faces had a look of terror, not unlike that of the gang themselves when they were running from sharpteeth. The gang was so shocked at the sight that they were practically deer in the headlights as the sharpteeth charged at them. Lucky, the sharpteeth ran off to the side of the gang, taking no notice of the 5 young flatteeth in front of them, and continued on running. After a few seconds, the 5 of them shook their heads and looked around in surprise.

"What was THAT?!" Cera squeaked.

"I don't know, but it was a wake-up call!" Littlefoot responded, still not believing what just happened. "We need to survive as long as we can!" At the same time, the incident had snapped them back to the reality that they had to survive.

Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike nodded in agreement, and the 5 began to look for food and water so that they could at least survive for just a little longer.

Only a minute in, Cera was already getting impatient.

"When are we gonna find water?" Cera asked impatiently.

"The water doesn't come to us, nope nope nope." Ducky answered. "We need to find it, we do, we do.

Spike grunted in agreement.

But then, Petrie spotted something welcoming: a water hole!

"Me see water!" Petrie exclaimed, pointing at the water hole.

"Good job!" Littlefoot congratulated Petrie. "Now, let's get some water!"

 _5_

But as they walked towards the water hole, a strange creature with unusual skin coloring, oddly shaped feet, and no tail, walked in front of them, stopping to look at them, seeming angry. The gang knew that this was trouble, since hostile sharpteeth almost always had a look of anger on them, so they took a step back. The creature took a step towards them. Then, the gang took a few more steps back, and the creature took a few steps forward, still having that look of anger.

Now the gang knew who they were dealing with.

"SHARPTOOTH!"

Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike almost immediately began running away. They had to get away from this thing, and fast!

* * *

 **Soundtrack:**

3\. Theme Of Scythia (Ancient Era) - Civilization VI (PC)

4\. Kebakba - Medieval 2: Total War (PC)

5\. Prelude To Disaster - Fire Emblem Fates (3DS)


	3. 1-1-3: Close Quarters Carnage

_5 (continued)_

The gang continued running from the strange creature, up a small hill, until there was nowhere else to run. Now, they had to make a choice. They could either accept their fates, or fight to the end. After a few seconds, Cera made her choice.

"Okay, I know that this might sound crazy, but we need to try and fight this thing." Cera told the others.

"B-But we gonna get eaten!" Petrie responded fearfully. "We can't win-"

"Yes we can!" Cera cut him off. "He's not as big as me, or Littlefoot, or Spike. We can take him on. Besides, even if we do lose, how do we want to go? Do we want to go down scared and crying like hatchlings?"

The others shook their heads "no".

"Or do we want to go down tough, strong, and brave, like grown-ups?

The others nodded, apparently choosing this.

"Alright then, let's do this!" Cera shouted, eyeing a nearby set of loose boulders. She promptly rammed into one, sending it down the hill.

* * *

As Shaka was following the young dinosaurs up a hill, he decided to start looking upward in case something fell on him. Wise choice, for when he began looking up, a boulder began rolling down the hill at him. Shaka kicked it off to the side like it was a football thanks to his earthbending, which he was glad that he had. Then, another boulder rolled down the hill, and Shaka did the same thing to it. After he knocked away a few more boulders, then a rockslide came down the hill. Shaka knew what to do, and he bent the rockslide so that it went overhead instead of flattening him.

* * *

Cera was shocked when she saw the strange creature kick away the boulders, and also when the landslide went OVER it instead of flattening it. Now she knew that this could definitely be trouble.

"Guys, get ready for a close fight." Cera told the others as the creature was almost at the top. "And I mean CLOSE."

* * *

Shaka was wondering why he heard something that sounded like a little girl telling someone to get ready to fight as he got to the top. But he found his answer sooner than he expected. When he got to the top of the hill, he saw the young dinosaurs again. But this time, none of them looked like they were in the mood to try running from him. Instead, they looked very ticked off, all 5 of them glaring angrily at him, and they were in what looked like their versions of COMBAT STANCES. On top of that, all 5 of them seemed to have eyes that were glowing completely white. Shaka realized that their eyes were very similar to those of Shaka himself when he entered a state where his bending became more powerful and he became more durable during it.

 _6_

Suddenly, the young apatosaurus swung his tail around and struck Shaka in the groin, knocking him down. Then, the young triceratops rammed Shaka in the side as he was getting up, knocking him down again. And then the young stegosaurus used his own tail to hit Shaka in the head, knocking him down once again.

Even with his head throbbing, his sides in pain, and with a stinging groin, Shaka managed to get up, and this time, he managed to dodge the attacks of the young dinosaurs and roll back a bit. Seeing how the young dinosaurs weren't planning on losing, Shaka got into his own fighting stance. With that, the fight began.

* * *

The fight was a long one, with Shaka hitting the young dinosaurs several times with bending attacks of every element, but the young dinosaurs seemingly shrugged them off and continued fighting, as if they hadn't been hit at all, and it shouldn't be forgotten that the young dinosaurs dodged a lot of Shaka's attacks. Luckily for Shaka, he was able to keep up, dodging as many of their attacks as he could, and responding with his own.

* * *

But after about 3 and a half minutes, the young dinosaurs seemed to be winning, wearing down Shaka and slowly turning the battle in their favor, up from a tie. This realization put a lot of stress upon an already-stressed-out Shaka, who hadn't ever been in a situation like this before.

 _7_

Finally, though, Shaka's stress reached a breaking point. His eyes began to glow all white just like the young dinosaurs, and when he went back to fighting, his bending became more powerful, and he too was able to shrug off lots of attacks. Now, he had the advantage, and he used it to finish the fight.

First, Shaka hit the young apatosaurus head on with a concussive fire blast, throwing him back and snapping him out of his state. Next, Shaka struck the young triceratops and the young stegosaurus on the heads with fair-sized rocks, snapping them out of their states, and he used another earthbending move to launch them over to where the young apatosaurus was lying injured. Then, Shaka waterbent his own sweat and used it to strike the young saurolophus (who had been trying to blind him by gouging out his eyes to give her allies an advantage) mid air, knocking her down to where the young apatosaurus, the young triceratops, and the young stegosaurus were lying, and snapping her out of her state. Finally, he shot down the young pteranodon (who was flying around and was also trying to blind him) with a strong airbending attack, knocking him down to where the other 4 were lying, and snapping him out of his state.

 _8_

Once he saw that the 5 young dinosaurs could no longer attack him or fight him, Shaka exited his own state. He noticed that the young dinosaurs seemed very frightened now that they were no longer in their states, and now that they were injured to the point where they were unable to fight. Then, he realized why they had fought him, and so hard at that.

They had mistaken him for a predator.

As Shaka did a mental replay of what had happened, from him setting the two Yutyrannuses on fire to the fight between him and the young dinosaurs, he remembered the expressions on the faces of the Yutyrannuses before he burned them. They had seemed very ticked off, even though he hadn't done anything to them at that point. Then, he remembered that it was easy to think that someone can seem angry if they're squinting, no matter what their mood. Shaka then realized that by having that look on his face by accident, as well as by acting the way he did (he had followed the young dinosaurs when they tried to back up), he had accidentally presented himself as a predator. Shaka facepalmed at this realization, before turning back to the injured young dinosaurs. But before he could say anything, the young apatosaurus spoke.

"Finish it..." the young apatosaurus hung his head, "I guess we're just gonna get eaten by you now...so go ahead...kill us..."

Shaka was shocked by what the young apatosaurus said, since the young dinosaur was asking him to kill him. But Shaka didn't want to kill him.

"No, I am not going to." Shaka bluntly told him. "Before you ask why, it is because...you are worthy opponents, so I do not want to kill you. You have earned the rights to be alive. Being your enemy or a predator wasn't even my reason for being here in the first place anyways, for I am disgusted by the thought of eating someone or something that can talk to me!"

* * *

 **Soundtrack:**

6\. Genghis Khan (War) - Civilization 5 (PC)

7\. Avatar State - Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon)

8: Etenraku Nokorigaku - Civilization 5 (PC)


	4. 1-1-4: Worthy Opponents

_8 (continued)_

The gang blinked their eyes in surprise as the creature told them that he would not kill them, and when he called them "worthy opponents", since they had fully expected him to kill them without a second thought. They were also surprised, and even felt sorry, when the creature told them that being their predator or enemy wasn't even his intention in the first place, since the thought of eating someone or something who could talk to him sickened him.

"Umm...uh...sorry for fighting you." Littlefoot stuttered, worried that the creature was angry with them for calling him a sharptooth and fighting him for no reason. "We thought you were going to eat us...we just want to go home..."

But to his surprise, the creature only put a hand on the back of Littlefoot's neck, as if to be reassuring.

"Why do do you think that I would be angry with you?" the creature chuckled. "To be honest, this whole thing was MY fault. I presented myself to you the wrong way, and you were only defending yourself against what you thought was a predator. Besides, the reason why I called you kids "worthy opponents" was because you did so well against me when you fought me. Especially so because you kids sound young...er..." the creature paused for a few moments trying to find the right words. "...do you kids know how old you are?"

"Six." Littlefoot answered.

"Six." Cera added.

"Six, yep yep yep." Ducky responded. Then, she pointed at Spike. "He's one, he is, he is."

"Six." Petrie finished.

* * *

 _9_

Shaka was shocked when the young dinosaurs mentioned their ages. He realized that if he had been defeated, this would have been the most embarrassing moment in his life, and now it was embarrassing enough that he had come very close to being defeated by them.

"Well then, I'm glad I actually won that, because I would never want to have to live down being beaten by a bunch of little kids." Shaka remarked, making the young dinosaurs giggle despite their injuries. "To be fair, despite what your appearances might suggest, you kids ARE much stronger than you look."

The young dinosaurs beamed a little at being called strong. Then, Shaka decided to ask them a few things.

"So let me ask you this: who are you?" Shaka asked. "Basically, what are your names, and what kind of dinosaurs are you?"

"Well, I'm Littlefoot, and I'm a longneck." the young apatosaurus responded to Shaka's question quickly.

"My name's Cera, and in case you can't tell, I'm a threehorn." the young triceratops told Shaka with a snarky tone.

"I'm Ducky, and I am a swimmer." the young saurolophus added (without her verbal tic this time), then introducing the young stegosaurus. "And this is Spike, and he is a spiketail."

"My name Petrie, and me a flyer." the young pteranodon finished the others again, though he had his verbal tic.

"My name's Shaka, and I'm a human, not a "sharptooth" or whatever you call it." Shaka replied. "I'll explain why my kind is like later." Then, he asked his next question. "Now then, do you kids live here?"

The young dinosaurs had enough strength to facepalm at this question, which turned out to be a stupid question. Surprisingly enough, Petrie, as he was now known as, corrected him.

"What you think?" Petrie snarked at him. "Me no live here."

"Me neither." Littlefoot, Cera, and Ducky, as they were known as, added. Spike, as he was now known as, just gave him a dry look.

"Oh, sorry for the stupid question." Shaka apologized. "Okay, here's a better question: where do you kids live?"

 _10_

"Well, we live in a place called "the great valley"." Littlefoot explained. "We always have enough food to eat and enough water to drink, and the great wall protects us from sharpteeth, but I already know that you're not one. But we have a problem: we're lost."

"Maybe I can help you get back home?" Shaka offered.

"...I guess so." Cera replied listlessly. "But we forgot WHERE it is."

"Perhaps there is surrounding the valley that allows you to see it from a long way away?" Shaka asked.

"Well, the great wall is long and tall, and it surrounds the valley." Littlefoot answered.

Shaka, gaining an idea, used his airbending to jump high into the air and hover for a few seconds. When he looked around, it didn't take long for him to spot a range of mountains that looked like castle walls. He then carefully landed.

"Alright, kids, I might have spotted your valley." Shaka told them. "There's a place that looks like a huge wall, and it matches what you said."

The young dinosaurs, wanting to see what Shaka was talking about, tried to get up, but fell back down with an "OOF!" when their legs (wings, in Petrie's case) gave out under them.

"Hey, easy, easy." Shaka reassured them as they groaned in pain.

Shaka knew that he had to find a way to transport them, since it was clear that they couldn't move on their own. Luckily, Shaka, being the master of bending the elements that he was, had an idea to do so that involved earthbending.

So he earthbent some rocks into something that resembled a large chair (which was like that because he needed to prevent himself or his passengers from getting blown off), taking advantage of the fact that he could levitate rocks with ease using earthbending to be able to fly it around as if he were a bird in the sky. Then, he put the exhausted young dinosaurs (who were too tired to protest or resist) in the "chair", taking advantage of the fact that he had a borderline Charles Atlas Superpower (extreme physical strength) due to his constant bending training, so he was able to lift and carry them (even Spike) quite easily.

Finally, once the young dinosaurs were in the "chair", Jeffrey began flying towards the valley with them in tow. He moved just fast enough so that they could get to the valley sooner, but slow enough so that the young dinosaurs didn't go flying off.

* * *

 **Okay, now I know that you might be wondering how the gang know their ages, but I figured that they might have a good idea of how old they are by looking at how many times they've celebrated their stardays (birthdays). In this one, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, and Petrie have celebrated their stardays 6 times now, and Spike has celebrated his once.**

* * *

 **Soundtrack:**

9\. Ack! Won Goph In Mah Mouph! Blech! Ptooey! - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

10\. Darius I (Peace) - Civilization V (PC)


	5. 1-1-5: Shaka's New Powers

_10 (continued)_

After a while of flying, Shaka and the gang were finally in the valley. It was indeed a beautiful place. There were huge, majestic trees, peaceful-looking meadows, and a sparkling river flowing through. It certainly looked like a good place for plant-eating dinosaurs to live, seeing how everything was pretty much covered in greenery.

After a little bit of hovering, Shaka landed the "chair" at a place near the river, and he unloaded the young dinosaurs. Once he unloaded them, Shaka let the "chair" fall apart, since he didn't need it anymore. Then, he looked around at his brilliant-looking surroundings.

"So this is the great valley?" Shaka asked, turning to the gang. "It looks like a great place for you dinosaurs to live."

"You're right on both, Shaka." Cera answered. "This is the great valley, and it IS a great place to live."

"Good, at least I got that one right." Shaka remarked, making the kids laugh a bit.

After a few moments of silence, Shaka noticed that the young dinosaurs were wounded.

"Hey, you kids need some patching up." Shaka told them.

The young dinosaurs looked at themselves and remembered that they were still badly injured.

"Oh, uh," Littlefoot responded sheepishly, "yeah, we're still hurt-" He was cut off by a sharp sting of pain that made him wince and gasp.

"You know, I have a way of fixing you kids up." Shaka began. "It involves water. Lots and lots of it. I can actually use it to heal wounds. Mind if I use it to heal yours?"

After a few seconds, Cera came up with a response.

"As long as it works." Cera replied. "Does it?"

"It does."

"Fine." Cera answered without a hint of a care in her voice. "Do it."

 _11_

With that, Shaka began the process of patching up the kids' wounds. Bending water from the nearby river, Shaka bent it onto where the wounds were, and the water seeped into the wounds, healing them. When the kids saw that it worked, they were more eager to let Shaka heal them. With some of the wounds, Shaka sometimes had to roll the kids over to get to the wounds, but now that the kids saw that his waterbending healing worked, they let him do it.

After a few minutes, Shaka had used waterbending healing on all of the wounds that he could find, and the kids weren't in as much pain as they were before.

"Hey, it works!" Cera pointed out. "Gee, thanks for healing us."

"Well, I had to get it done and over with at some point." Shaka replied. Then, he realized that he was also wounded. "Besides, I still need to use it on myself soon, since I'm hurt, too. But I can handle it better, so I'll do it later."

 _12_

After a few seconds, the kids let out a collective yawn.

"Tired?" Shaka asked.

"Yes, me tired." Petrie answered.

"We need some rest, yep yep yep." Ducky added.

Shaka let out a yawn of his own, also realizing he was tired.

"Well, so do I." Shaka responded. "I think that we could get some rest right here. What do you kids think?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Littlefoot answered.

With that, the kids laid down, curled up, and promptly went to sleep, making Shaka chuckle a bit.

"They must be REALLY tired." Shaka said to himself. "Then again, so am I."

At that, Shaka himself laid down, and also went to sleep.

* * *

 **Now, I know that you might think that Shaka being able to use waterbending healing is another pointer towards him being a mary sue, but let me explain why he has that skill. In the version of Earth that Shaka lives in, and in the area that he lives in (South Africa), waterbending healing is a vital, if not necessary, skill for waterbenders to learn because modern medicine often isn't available in some areas of that country, and since Shaka can bend all 4 elements...yeah.**

* * *

 **Soundtrack:**

11\. Holy Water Vessel - Civilization V (PC)

12\. Lilly - Medieval 2: Total War (PC)


	6. 1-1-6: A New Resident of the Valley

_12 (Continued)_

After a little while, Shaka woke up from his sleep. Judging by the position of the sun in the sky, he and the young dinosaurs must have been sleeping for about an hour. Now, it was late in the day, around 4 o' clock by human standards at this time of the year.

As Shaka got up and stretched, the young dinosaurs also woke up. Shaka quickly noticed this, of course.

"Did you kids sleep well?" Shaka asked as the young dinosaurs sat up.

"Yeah, we did." Littlefoot answered. "And you?"

"Well, it helps that I seem to have found a place to live." Shaka replied. "Out there, I didn't have a single place to live, and I had to move around."

"We're glad that you like the valley, Shaka." Cera responded.

"No problem."

After a minute of resting, Shaka decided that it was time to tell the young dinosaurs about himself and his species.

"Would you kids like me to tell you a little bit about what I am?" Shaka asked.

The young dinosaurs nodded in agreement.

"Well, the truth is, even though I am part plant eater..." Shaka became a little nervous with his voice as he struggle dot find the right words, since he was afraid the young dinosaurs would flip out upon hearing the truth, "...I am also...part meat eater."

 _2_

The young dinosaurs almost immediately went silent, though their reaction wasn't as bad as Shaka feared.

"I'm surprised that you kids haven't freaked out and called me "evil" just because I'm part meat eater." Shaka remarked.

"Well, with us five, we just don't react that way, even though a LOT of other dinosaurs of our kind would." Cera told him. "We already know that just because someone's a meat eater, or, like you, part meat eater, doesn't mean that they're evil. One of our friends is actually a meat eater!"

Shaka was surprised at this revelation.

"Wait, are you serious?" Shaka asked.

"Yes, we serious." Petrie answered. "His name Chomper, and he a meat eater, but he be very friendly. Maybe you two get along pretty good!"

"Maybe." Shaka replied. "I would have to meet him first, though."

Just then, though, Shaka and the gang heard two voices calling out Littlefoot's name.

"Littlefoot, where are you?"

"We're looking for you! Looking for you we are!"

Littlefoot almost immediately recognized the two voices as Chomper and Ruby, the former being a young Sharptooth (albeit a friendly one), and the latter being a young Fast Runner (who was an omnivore anyways).

"Hey, that sounds like Chomper and Ruby!" Littlefoot told the others.

"Okay, um, I know that you talked about Chomper, but who's "Ruby"?" Shaka asked.

"Oops!" Littlefoot realized his mistake of not telling Shaka about Ruby. "Um...you'll see who I'm talking about once you see her."

Soon, Shaka saw two different young dinosaurs approaching them. One of them seemed to be a young Tyrannosaurus Rex, although he didn't have a hint of malice or anger on his face. In fact he looked very happy to see Littlefoot, so Shaka assumed that this was Chomper. The other dinosaur was young Oviraptor who looked similarly friendly, so Shaka assumed that she was Ruby. Soon enough, the two came running over to Littlefoot, tackle-hugging him. Shaka had stepped to the side so that the two of them didn't notice him.

 _13_

"Oh, Littlefoot, you worried us, worried us you did." Ruby said with a relieved tone.

"We couldn't find you guys anywhere!" Chomper added. "Where did you go?"

"Well," Littlefoot began in embarrassment, "we went on an adventure without you two, and we got lost outside the valley. But we met a new creature out there, and he saved us and brought us back here. Wanna meet him?"

"Yeah, I do!" Chomper replied.

"Well, here he is!" Cera loudly presented, referring to Shaka.

That's when Chomper and Ruby got their first look at Shaka. They were quite surprised, since they had never seen someone or something like him before.

"Umm, who are you?" Chomper asked.

"My name is Shaka," Shaka began, "and I am not a dinosaur, but instead, I am a creature called a "human". As Littlefoot said, I rescued your friends and brought them back to this valley. It is nice to meet you, Chomper and Ruby."

"It's nice to meet you too, Shaka." Chomper replied as he and Ruby did their versions of shaking hands with Shaka. "And thanks for saving our friends."

"Not a problem."

After a few seconds, the young dinosaurs decided to introduce Shaka to their parents.

"Hey, Shaka, want to meet our families?" Littlefoot asked.

"It depends." Shaka replied. "Are they welcoming to strangers or newcomers?"

"Well, they are," Cera answered, "except for my dad. He doesn't really like anyone expect for himself and a few others, so he isn't very welcoming."

"Ah, well, it must suck to have a father like that." Shaka remarked. Cera nodded her head in agreement. "Even then, I guess I'll go meet your families."

"Alright then, let's go!" Littlefoot encouraged, and he and the young dinosaurs began leading Shaka to where their parents were.

On the way, Shaka let the young dinosaurs get some food and water, since they hadn't eaten or drank anything in a while.

After a few minutes of searching, Shaka and the young dinosaurs found their families, who were talking with each other at the moment.

"Grandma, Grandpa, we're back!" Littlefoot called out to the two elderly-looking Apatosauruses, who appeared to be his grandparents.

"Well, there you are, Littlefoot." the male Apatosaurus, who was Littlefoot's grandfather, responded, while the female, who was Littlefoot's grandfather, nuzzled Littlefoot. "We were starting to get worried about you."

"Just WHERE have you kids been?" a very angry adult male Triceratops, who was possibly Cera's father, asked.

"Oh, um, sorry, we were going adventuring again, but we ended up in the Mysterious Beyond by accident, and then we got lost." Littlefoot apologized. "At least we didn't run into Red Claw again."

"Well, at least you're safe and sound now." Littlefoot's grandmother told them. "Remember, children, the world is full of danger. You should always be careful."

"Yes, Grandma Longneck." the young dinosaurs replied, understanding what she meant. But then an adult female Saurolophus, who looked to be Ducky's mother, noticed Shaka.

"Erm, sorry to interrupt, but what IS that thing?" the Saurolophus asked, pointing at Shaka.

"Good heavens!" Littlefoot's grandfather reacted upon seeing Shaka. At this point, Shaka was pretty annoyed by being referred to as an inanimate object.

 _14_

"Exucse me, milady, but the more appropriate question would have been "Who is that guy?" Shaka snarked at the adult Saurolophus. Then, he calmed down and introduced himself. "As for the answer to that question, my name is Shaka, and I am not a dinosaur, but a creature known as a "human"."

The jaws of the parents practically hit the ground upon seeing Shaka. They had obviously not ever seen a human before. Some of them chatted amongst themselves about whether it was safe to let him stay in the valley or not, which greatly annoyed Shaka.

"You do know that it's very rude to talk about whether it's safe for me to stay here when I haven't even explained who's side I'm on, right?" Shaka asked the parents, who promptly stopped talking and paid full attention to him. Then, Shaka explained his morals and his alignment. "Now then, I have a personal set of morals that forbids me from eating anyone or anything that can talk to me, so you're safe from that. Also, I'm the reason as to why your kids made it back here. When I found them out there, outside the valley, they were obviously lost, so I agreed to help them get back here. When they told me about the Great Wall, I spotted it from a long way away, and once I figured out where this valley was, I carried them all the way to the valley. Once we got here, I made sure that they got some food, some water, and some rest. They've just woken up from the latter."

Except for the Triceratops, the parents calmed down upon hearing what Shaka's morals were, and that he had saved their children.

"Well, good thing you didn't encounter any Sharpteeth on the way." Grandma Longneck (what the young dinosaurs called Littlefoot's Grandmother) told him. "If you did, you would have had a lot of trouble."

"Eh, it wouldn't have been that much trouble." Shaka boasted. "I would have defeated him too easily."

"BAH, that's RIDICULOUS!" the adult Triceratops shouted. "How could someone as small as you defeat a sharptooth? There is just no way at all that it would ever happen! And if so, how do you think we can trust you?"

"Oh, and I forgot to mention that I have a special ability called bending." Shaka told him. "It allows me to control the elements."

"What kind of dumb stuff are you even talking about?" the Triceratops asked.

"Allow me to demonstrate." Shaka answered with a sly grin as he went to a small open area. Then, he began demonstrating his bending abilities.

 _15_

First, he sent a huge blast of fire into the sky, illuminating the area. Next, he sent a huge gale whipping across the valley, almost blowing over a few trees. Then, he made huge waves in the nearby river that splashed many of the dinosaurs near it. Finally, he created a huge pillar of earth that reached about as tall as the heads of Littlefoot's Grandparents.

The young dinosaurs and their parents were dazzled by the sight of Shaka's powerful bending, jaws hitting the ground once again, and eyes wide.

"There you go, sir." Shaka told the adult Triceratops. "That's why you shouldn't underestimate someone who's small. My abilities are real, and hopefully, you've learned that small does not mean weak. Besides, why do you still not trust me? Did you even hear me talking about how I saved your kids when they got lost?"

 _16_

The Triceratops didn't say anything now. He just grumbled like a grumpy person who was having a bad Monday. Talk about severe anger issues.

"In any case, thank you for saving our children and bringing them back to safety." Grandpa Longneck (what Littlefoot's grandfather was likely called) thanked Shaka.

"No problem, sir." Shaka replied.

"Since he helped us get back home, and he probably doesn't know where to stay, could he stay here in the valley?" Littlefoot asked.

"Oh, please let him stay here!" Ducky pleaded.

Luckily for them, a Pteranodon, who was likely Petrie's mother, agreed with them.

"Well, I don't see any problem there." the Pteranodon responded. "Shaka's saved our children, and he's clearly their friend, and he has that powerful ability of his that he could protect them with. I think it's alright to let him stay." The other adults almost immediately agreed, except for the adult Triceratops, who was still grumbling.

"I don't see any point arguing against this." Grandpa Longneck decided. "Shaka, you're more than welcome to stay here in the valley."

The young dinosaurs became very excited and began jumping around and running all over the place in celebration.

"Thank you." Shaka thanked Grandpa Longneck.

"No, thank YOU." Ducky's mother thanked Shaka back. "You saved our kids. We cannot thank you enough for that."

"We hope you enjoy your stay here." Grandma Longneck told him. "And again, thank you."

"You're welcome." Shaka replied. "I'm just doing what I know is the right thing."

Just then, Chomper grabbed Shaka's hand.

"Come on, Shaka, we've gotta show you what the valley is like!" Chomper told Shaka excitedly.

"Well, looks like I'm going to be stuck with the job of watching the kids for you." Shaka told the parents, making some of them laugh. "See you later."

"Have fun, Shaka." Grandpa Longneck replied.

With that, Shaka left with the kids.

As Shaka left, Grandpa Longneck then turned to Mr. Threehorn (the name of the Adult Male Triceratops), who was still fuming.

"What's the matter, Mr. Threehorn? Grandpa Longneck asked.

"I don't trust him." Mr. Threehorn answered. "It just doesn't feel safe here with him. I suggest we take our chance now and chase him out for good!"

"I'm pretty sure that you know what I'm going to say to your suggestion: no. I suggest you give him a chance instead. He won't be so bad once you get to know him."

Mr. Threehorn just growled.

* * *

 **You might have noticed that neither Shaka nor the gang mentioned the fight that they had when they first met. This is because, offscreen, Shaka and the gang decided to keep the fight a personal secret.**

* * *

 **Soundtrack:**

13\. Ramkhamhaeng (Peace) - Civilization V (PC)

14\. Harald Bluetooth (Peace) - Civilization V (PC)

15\. Shaka Zulu (War) - Civilization V (PC)

16\. Haile Selassie (Peace) - Civilization V (PC)


	7. 1-1-7: Brutal Honesty

_16 (continued)_

Now, the gang was showing Shaka around the valley. Shaka was speechless, although one thing that he would say if he could speak was that this was a BEAUTIFUL place to live, because it was pretty much a paradise inside a mountain range. The young dinosaurs showed him various things in the valley, like where they played, where they ate, where they rested, what kind of games they played, and how they played them.

For example, there was "Toss The Seed". There were two opposing teams. The goal of the game was to throw the seed at your opponents to get them "out", hence the name "Toss The Seed". This reminded Shaka of "Dodgeball", a similar game that he would play with the few friends he had at all back on his home world. Either way, it was very innovative for a "game".

The young dinosaurs also showed him other games they played, such as Tag, Swimmer Splasher, The Pointy Seed Game, Sharptooth Attack, and various other games.

After the tour, which lasted a couple of hours, all of them decided to have a little sit down near a fair-sized tree and talk about various stuff.

 _13_

"So, how you like the valley, Shaka?" Petrie asked.

"Love it." Shaka answered. "You kids have such a great place to live."

"It is a great place to live, like you said earlier." Chomper added.

After a few moments of silence, Shaka decided that it was time to talk about his origins.

"Would you kids mind if I told you a little more about myself?" Shaka asked the young dinosaurs.

"Go ahead." Cera told him.

"Well," Shaka began, "I am not from the area outside this valley, nor am I from anywhere in this world. I...am from a different world."

Luckily for him, instead of being shocked or frightened, the kids looked at him with curiosity and wonder.

"You're from another world?" Littlefoot asked in surprise.

"Yes, I am." Shaka answered. "Would you like me to explain what my life on that world was like and how I got here?"

The kids nodded "yes". They wanted to hear Shaka's story.

"Alright then, let me tell you..."

 _17_

So Shaka went on to explain a simple version (well, as simple as possible, since human culture is very confusing to dinosaurs) of his life story to the young dinosaurs. You might know that Shaka was born in South Africa, but he didn't grow up there. Shaka was born at the time that his mother and his father were visiting South Africa, the home country of Shaka's mother, to visit her family. His birth turned what was supposed to be a week long visit into a month-long stay, because Shaka's mother had to recover from the birth of her son.

Surprisingly, though Shaka's mother and father were US Citizens, once his mother recovered, the two of them went to Japan, which was where they had been living before their South Africa visit, and arrived in Kochi (a major city on Shikoku Island), where they lived for 11 years. Of course, growing up there meant that Shaka (when he was known as "Andrew", his original name) grew up speaking FOUR languages: English, Japanese (the Shikoku Dialect, because Kochi is on Shikoku, though he had a Scottish Accent, once again), Zulu, and Scots Gaelic (which he learned from his father, who was a native Scot). At the local elementary school that he went to, surprisingly enough, Shaka was considered one of, if not the smartest, kids in the school, acing the classes as if school was a joke, and he actually had quite a few friends who he helped with any assignments that they were having trouble on when possible, despite his usual social awkwardness (which was seen by the other students there as endearing). Let's not forget that Shaka was practically one with the bending elements AND bending itself, and mastered all 4 of them quickly in his time in Kochi.

 _8_

But when Shaka was 11, his family moved away from Japan, the land that Shaka had been living in since he was just a month old, and moved to the US. This was when Shaka's life took a turn for the worse. When he attended an american middle school, Shaka didn't do very well. He only BARELY passed his classes, because he was more used to the Japanese Education System, and not the American Education System. Also, his social awkwardness meant that Shaka got bullied a lot, and wasn't able to make any long lasting friendships, as any friends he did make would quickly turn on him.

Eventually, at the age of 15 (and, at the moment that Shaka was telling the young dinosaurs about himself, a few days ago), Shaka had enough, and he wanted to find ways to live somewhere else. It was then that he discovered a way to go to a different world (which turned out to be the world that Littlefoot and his friends lived, AKA the world that Shaka was in now). Before Shaka went to this other world, he explained what he was going to do to his parents, and to his good fortune, they were fine with it, since they understood that it was a mistake on their part to try to adapt Shaka to the US education system. So they simply said their goodbyes, and Shaka left after taking some advice from his mother.

The young dinosaurs were a little sad when they heard how Shaka no longer had any friends, got bullied all the time, and did badly in "school" just because he moved. They were also sad that Shaka had to leave his old world because it wasn't working out for him anymore.

"It is not good to not have friends, no no no." Ducky told him.

"Indeed, it isn't." Shaka replied. Then, he changed his tone. "It's a shame that I no longer have any friends...well, I used to not have any. Now, I've actually managed to find some new ones."

"Really?" Chomper asked. "Who are they?"

"They're the 7 little dinosaurs sitting in front of me, that's who!" Shaka playfully snarked, making the young dinosaurs laugh. Surprisingly enough, Shaka was a pretty decent comedian.

"Very clever, Shaka." Ruby complimented him, still laughing.

"But seriously, thank you." Shaka told them "It's pretty nice to have friends again for the first time in a long time."

Shaka then hugged the still giggling young dinosaurs one by one. It should be noted that, compared to Shaka, the young dinosaurs were quite small. Littlefoot, for example, not counting his long neck and head, was about the size of a Labrador Retriever, with Cera and Spike at a similar size. Ducky and Petrie were about the size of small sparrows, Chomper was about the size of a chicken, and Ruby was about as tall as Littlefoot was (at the top of his head, because of his long neck, which was less than 4 feet tall), and she was light, since her body was built for running at high speeds. So because of this, Shaka was able to hold them pretty easily because of his strength.

Once Shaka put the young dinosaurs down, and once they had gotten over their giggling fits, Shaka decided to tell them one more thing about himself.

"Oh, and by the way, is there one more thing that you want to know about me?" Shaka asked.

"Sure, go ahead." Littlefoot answered.

"Well, I can be very honest and blunt about things." Shaka told them. "It's something of a family trait of mine, because my father was like that, and so was my mother. And if there is one thing that I'm REALLY honest about, it's about people's flaws. I can point out flaws in anyone so that they can work to fix them or work around them. Would you like my to do that with you kids?"

"Well, it would be good to know our flaws." Ruby told him. "Good to know our flaws it would be. Go on."

 _9_

"Alright then, here we go." Shaka began. "Let's see...Littlefoot's too naive, Cera's too brash, Ducky's too gullible, Petrie's too nervous, Spike's too gluttonous, Chomper's too trusting, and Ruby talks too funny."

As to be expected, upon hearing this, the young dinosaurs looked quite insulted.

"Shaka, that was not nice!" Ducky exclaimed. "It wasn't!"

"Well, I told you that I could be blunt." Shaka told her. "Though, to be fair, I was just kidding around with the "Ruby" one, and I think I've found one of my own flaws: I'm a little too blunt, so I might come off as rude. Then again, you kids DID ask for it...well, I asked if I could do it, and you said yes. But of course, I did mention that I'm not the best at interacting with others, because how blunt I am can make me come off as rude or mean when I don't mean to. I tend to accidentally insult people a lot."

It was at this moment that Shaka got verbally owned by a little 6 year old triceratops.

"Well, if you are so bad at interacting with others, and you "accidentally insult people a lot", then why don't you keep your mouth shut?" Cera snarked at him.

"Ohhh, you got me!" Shaka groaned.

The others would have usually told Cera off for saying stuff like that, but since Shaka had it coming, and it was such a hilarious line, they began laughing. Hard. Even Shaka began laughing at Cera's line, since when he looked back at it, it was BRILLIANT.

When the laughter subsided, Shaka's stomach began growling. All of the young dinosaurs looked at him with worried looks on their faces.

 _18_

"Umm, Shaka, haven't you eaten anything since you got here?" Littlefoot asked, concern notable in his tone.

"No..." Shaka hesitantly answered. "Maybe I need to find something to eat."

"Good, because the last thing we want is our new friend starving." Cera told him.

"So, what is there for me to eat?" Shaka asked. "Just to let you know, I can't eat leaves."

"Well, I know something that you could eat that isn't leaves!" Ducky answered. "Sweet bubbles! Come on!"

With that, the little dinosaurs led Shaka to a vine that was covered with little red round objects. At first, Shaka didn't know what they were talking about by "sweet bubbles", but when he looked at the tiny red objects, he realized what they were.

Grapes. And lots of them.

Before any of the young dinosaurs could say anything, Shaka began tearing into the grapes at a rate that Spike was envious of. In less than a minute, the vine was devoid of any grapes. Once he was done, Shaka turned around to find the young dinosaurs looking at him with a bit of surprise.

"Sorry, I was hungry." Shaka told them bluntly.

"Well, uh, I guess that explains it." Littlefoot responded nervously. "Glad you liked it."

"Believe it or not, this food actually existed in my old world." Shaka explained. "They're called "grapes", and they are something that I am bound to be eating."

"Your "old world" be very interesting, Shaka." Petrie remarked. "And me mean it."

 _19_

At that moment, the young dinosaurs heard their parents calling for them to come back to the nest for the night. One by one, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, Chomper, and Ruby said goodbye to Shaka, hugging him before they left. Eventually, it was just Shaka and Littlefoot.

"Well, Shaka, wanna sleep with me and my grandparents tonight?" Littlefoot asked.

"I guess so." Shaka accepted. "They seem nice enough."

With that, Littlefoot began leading Shaka to the nest where he and his grandparents lived. Once they got there, Littlefoot's grandparents were waiting for them.

"Hi Grandma, hi Grandpa." Littlefoot told his grandparents with a tired tone who turned their attention to him and Shaka.

"Hello, Littlefoot." Grandma and Grandpa Longneck replied. "And hello, Shaka."

"Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Longneck, if that's how you would prefer to be known." Shaka greeted.

"You can just call me "Grandpa"." the male longneck told him.

"And you can call me "Grandma"." the female longneck added. "I take it that you're staying with us tonight, are you?"

"Well, yes." Shaka replied. "As you can probably tell, Littlefoot and I..."

Then, Littlefoot fell asleep while standing up, and his front legs gave out from under him, getting Shaka's attention.

"...but especially Littlefoot, are pretty tired after today. Especially since Littlefoot and his friends got lost outside the valley, and I had to bring them back here. So that's why we came back rather early."

"Well, then, it's time for you two to get some rest." Grandpa Longneck told him.

"It is." Shaka responded.

Shaka then went over to Littlefoot and picked up the sleeping young apatosaurus.

"You're quite strong, Shaka." Grandma Longneck remarked.

"Well, that, and the fact that I'm bigger than he is." Shaka quickly explained.

Then, Shaka went over to where he assumed Littlefoot slept, setting Littlefoot down in a comfortable position for sleeping. Then, Shaka laid down nearby and went to sleep.

Seeing their grandson sleeping with a new friend who would no doubt protect him and keep him safe, Grandpa and Grandma Longneck laid down and themselves went to sleep.

* * *

 **Now, as for explaining things, well, you know the drill:**

 **1. Just because Shaka was born in South Africa doesn't mean that he stayed there during his time on Earth. Like the story reads, the only reason why Shaka was born in South Africa was because his birth happened while his parents were visiting the family of his mother. Shaka's parents had actually been living in Japan for quite a while before then, as they liked the place a lot and the people living there.**

 **2. Shaka's ability to speak 4 languages is plot relevant. I will admit, I kinda pulled his ability to speak Japanese and Scots Gaelic as well as English and Zulu out of nowhere, but the only reason why I gave Shaka this ability is because he will NEED it with a capital N later on. I'm not going to spoil why, but rest assured that you'll find out for yourself.**

* * *

 **Soundtrack:**

17\. Oda Nobunaga (Peace) - Civilization 5 (PC)

18\. No Cure For... - Fire Emblem Fates (3DS)

19\. But Chrom, It's Nearly Dark! - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)


	8. 1-1-8: Leaves From The Vine

_19 (continued)_

Shaka slept rather peacefully, which was the first time in a while that he had one without a nightmare, and a rarity. As you might guess, Shaka enjoyed this sleep, and he was hoping that Littlefoot was having the same kind of sleep.

Unfortunately, Littlefoot wasn't.

* * *

 _20_

Contrary to what Shaka was hoping, Littlefoot was having a terrible nightmare that took him back to an unhappy memory: his mother dying at the hands (or should I say, claws) of Sharptooth, a sociopathic, mentally unstable Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The nightmare started with Littlefoot's mother dying in front of him again. As Littlefoot was crying in front of his mother's body, Sharptooth appeared behind Littlefoot, scaring him pale. Shockingly, Sharptooth was able to speak, and he mocked Littlefoot about how tasty he looked, how he would enjoy feasting on Littlefoot's flesh, how sating his blood would be, and how nobody was going to save him.

* * *

 _21_

Shaka was eventually woken up by a sound that he didn't like to hear at all: a child crying. Shaka looked around for the source of the sound, until he saw Littlefoot. The poor kid seemed to be crying and muttering in his sleep. Shaka knew that this was because the young apatosaurus was having a nightmare. And he knew that the best way to stop this nightmare of his was to wake him up.

So Shaka put his hand on Littlefoot and shook him lightly. Not quite the gentlest approach, but it worked, and Littlefoot woke up, tears flowing down his face. Like a loving, caring big brother, Shaka picked up and cradled Littlefoot in his arms like a baby, the young dinosaur sagging in his arms.

"Are you alright, Littlefoot?" Shaka asked.

"What does it look like?" Littlefoot snapped. He didn't like being asked stupid questions when he was very upset. But when Shaka looked at him with a raised eyebrow, Littlefoot looked down. "...I-I'm not."

"Well, what's wrong?"

"I...had a scary sleep story." Littlefoot admitted. "In it, my mother was dead and Sharptooth was mocking me about how good I would taste to him and how no one would save me from him."

Shaka realized that, by "scary sleep story", Littlefoot meant that he had a nightmare, something that Shaka himself was all too familiar with.

"Oh, well, if it was just in your sleep, then it likely won't happen." Shaka tried to be reassuring. Unfortunately for him, it backfired.

"But it did happen!" Littlefoot cried. "Sharptooth did exist, and he killed my mother while we were on our way to the valley, and the only reason why I wasn't eaten by Sharptooth was because I met my friends out there, and they were the reason why I survived at all!" This surprised Shaka, and he did a verbal backspace in response.

"Alright, um, h-how about I try helping you get back to sleep then?" Shaka stuttered.

Littlefoot sadly nodded.

Shaka began thinking of a way to get Littlefoot back to sleep. He hated it when his attempts at reassuring people backfired, and he had his social awkwardness to blame for that. But then he remembered a beautiful and powerful song from his home world about a young soldier conscripted into war. Despite what the song was about, Shaka was sure that it would be a means to get Littlefoot to sleep.

"...Perhaps I could sing to you." Shaka told him awkwardly. "I know, I know, it's gonna sound really strange coming from me, since singing's not my thing, and I don't sing very often, if at all. But I'm gonna give it a try, so here it goes."

Then, Shaka began to sing, and unlike what he feared, it was glorious.

 _22_

 _ **Leaves from the vine,**_

 _ **Falling so slow,**_

 _ **Like fragile, tiny shells,**_

 _ **Drifting in the foam.**_

 _ **Little soldier boy,**_

 _ **Come marching home,**_

 _ **Brave soldier boy,**_

 _ **Come marching home.**_

 _ **Those leaves did grow,**_

 _ **From branches overgrown,**_

 _ **Drifting slowly down,**_

 _ **Resting on the loam.**_

 _ **Little soldier boy,**_

 _ **Taken from home,**_

 _ **Forced to fight a war,**_

 _ **That's not his own.**_

 _ **Leaves from the vine,**_

 _ **Falling so slow,**_

 _ **Like fragile, tiny shells,**_

 _ **Drifting in the foam.**_

 _ **Little soldier boy says,**_

 _ **"Carry me home",**_

 ** _Brave soldier boy,_**

 ** _Is carried home._**

 _8_

Once Shaka finished singing, he noticed that Littlefoot was curled up in his arms, fast asleep. Exactly the effect that Shaka was hoping for.

"Well, at least that worked." Shaka thought. He always doubted his ability at singing, so he was relieved that he did well.

But then he noticed that Grandma and Grandpa Longneck were awake. Luckily, they were happy with him for helping their grandson with his nightmare.

"Beautiful song, Shaka." Grandpa Longneck complimented. "For someone who says that singing is "not their thing", you are pretty good at it."

"Maybe it's because I did better than I expected." Shaka shrugged. "Of course, remember the "it's not my thing" part, so don't expect me to sing too often."

"Oh, it's not like you HAVE to sing, Shaka." Grandma Longneck reassured. "We're just saying that you are much better at it than you said you were." Then, she remembered what time it was. "Anyways, we should be getting back to sleep. It's too early for us to be up."

"Got that." Shaka responded.

So Grandma and Grandpa Longneck laid down and went back to sleep fairly quickly. With the sleeping Littlefoot still in his arms, Shaka sat down, leaning against a tree, and went to sleep.

He was hoping that Littlefoot didn't have anymore trouble sleeping tonight.

* * *

 **In case you didn't know, "Leaves From The Vine" is from ATLA, of all places (as a reference to that series). Now, there IS going to be singing in this one, but it's only going to happen one more time after this, and this is a very long story, too (I'm thinking about 50 chapters at the very least).**

* * *

 **Soundtrack:**

20\. Endless Nightmare - Fire Emblem Fates (3DS)

21\. That's What Keeps You Alone - Goldeneye (Movie)

22\. Leaves From The Vine - Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon)


	9. 1-1-9: The Day The Land Fell

_8 (continued)_

The next morning, Shaka woke up first. It was quite normal for him to be the first one up, since he didn't really sleep as long as others normally did. When he woke up, he looked around, noticing that Littlefoot's Grandparents were still asleep. Then, he looked down into his lap at Littlefoot. Thankfully, Littlefoot was still fast asleep in his arms.

"Good, at least he's still asleep." Shaka quietly said to himself. "Gotta admit, he's cute. But just pretend I didn't say that, okay?"

Shaka began gently rubbing Littlefoot on his belly in admiration. Even though it would appear that Shaka was your stereotypical masculine teenager (he was 15, after all), he actually had a fondness for cute things, youngling dinosaurs included. As Shaka was rubbing Littlefoot's belly, though, Littlefoot was actually smiling in his sleep. Shaka could only guess that he was enjoying the attention.

But then, Littlefoot stirred a little in Shaka's arms, and he opened his eyes as he woke up. He seemed quite happy as he woke up, so Shaka was glad that Littlefoot slept better in his arms. Then, Littlefoot looked down at where Shaka's hand was on his belly, and back at Shaka, blushing a little.

 _9_

"Oh, uh, good morning, Shaka." Littlefoot awkwardly greeted. "Uh, quite a way to wake up!"

Shaka's response was just as awkward.

"Umm, good morning, Littlefoot, uh, you see, I-I was just, uh, rubbing y-your belly because I-I thought you were c-cute." Shaka greeted back in a similarly awkward way. "I-I know, i-it sounds really, really weird coming from someone l-like me, and I don't mean THOSE implications that my kind w-would get from seeing this."

Shaka and Littlefoot shared a laugh at how the two of them could be equally awkward at times.

"Well, actually, I don't mind you doing that, Shaka." Littlefoot chuckled while blushing harder. "It feels good. And glad that you think I'm cute...I just wish someone else would also think so."

Shaka shrugged before rubbing Littlefoot's belly again. This morning was...awkward so far, since Shaka rubbing Littlefoot's belly would seem very odd to another person. Then again, Littlefoot was a cute little dinosaur, so not very many people would be able to resist the urge to do this.

Just then, Littlefoot's grandparents woke up. They had their usual friendly looks as they woke up, but when they looked at Shaka and Littlefoot and saw what they were doing, the two of them gained mischievous looks.

"Well, good morning, Shaka." Grandma Longneck greeted cheekily. "Having fun with our grandson, I see."

This double entendre made Littlefoot sit up in Shaka's lap, both him and Shaka very embarrassed.

"Uh, i-i-it's not what it looks like!" Littlefoot shouted, his face red with embarrassment. "I-I was just resting in his arms!"

"Just making sure." Grandpa Longneck chuckled. Then, his face went back to a more caring look. "So anyways, Shaka, did Littlefoot sleep better with you?"

 _16_

"He did." Shaka replied. "I guess that I was just what he needed."

"Well, that's good." Grandpa Longneck responded. "It's good to know that our grandson has found someone he can trust."

"Hey, Shaka, don't you think that we can go find the others?" Littlefoot asked.

"I guess so." Shaka answered. Then, he turned back to Littlefoot's Grandparents. "So what do you say?"

"Go ahead." Grandma Longneck responded. "Just keep our grandson safe. He IS all we have left, after all."

"Don't worry, I will keep him safe." Shaka replied. "Don't worry about him too much."

With that, Shaka helped Littlefoot stand up, and then the two of them went off to find their friends.

On the way, Shaka was still surprised by how Littlefoot's grandparents teased them in the way that they did.

"I didn't know that your grandparents, of all dinosaurs, would have a sense of humor like THAT." Shaka told Littlefoot.

"Well, they do that sometimes." Littlefoot replied. "My grandparents like to tease me here and there, and of course, it is something that I wish they would stop doing, especially if it's like how they just did it to us."

"Don't we all?" Shaka remarked.

Littlefoot nodded.

With that, Shaka and Littlefoot continued searching for their friends. After a few minutes, they found the others near a lake, patiently waiting for them. It wasn't long, though, before they noticed that Shaka and Littlefoot had neutral, rather than happy, expressions.

"Good morning, Littlefoot, good morning, Shaka." Chomper greeted. Then, he noticed that they didn't quite seem happy. "Uh, is there something wrong this morning?"

"Well, my grandparents were teasing us...again." Littlefoot responded.

"Oh, that is annoying, annoying that is." Ruby remarked.

Littlefoot nodded in agreement.

 _2_

"And Littlefoot had a...scary...sleep...story?" Shaka reached into his mind to remember what Littlefoot called a nightmare. "Yeah, well, he had one of those about his mother apparently being killed by...Sharptooth? I think that's his name."

"Wow, Sharptooth just won't leave you alone, won't he, Littlefoot?" Cera responded, talking to Littlefoot. "It's been a long time since then, and he still gets you in your sleep?"

Littlefoot nodded again, this time a little upset.

This made Shaka fairly curious. Who was this "Sharptooth" guy, anyways? How did he kill Littlefoot's mother? What did he do to Littlefoot and his friends besides that?

"Umm, kids, sorry to sound a little insensitive, but..." Shaka paused for a bit as he chose his words. "...who was this "Sharptooth" guy, and what exactly happened? Can you tell me about him?"

Chomper and Ruby looked on with curiosity, while the rest of the gang had hesitant looks on their faces.

"Uh, Shaka, you SURE you wanna know?" Petrie asked. "It very hard to listen to. It also something we no wanna talk about. But you wanna know, we talk to you. Tell Petrie if you wanna know."

"Well, I do want to know." Shaka answered. "Seeing how this certainly is a sensitive topic for you kids, I know it will be hard for me to listen to, but I also want to know what happened. So of course I want you to tell me what happened."

"A-Alright then, I guess so." Littlefoot hesitantly responded. "Come on guys, let's go somewhere quiet."

At that, the gang went to find a quiet place in the valley to tell Shaka about their troubles with Sharptooth. Soon, they found a small clearing tucked away from the rest of the valley. There, they sat down and began to talk.

"So, tell me what happened." Shaka requested.

"It's a long story." Littlefoot began. Then, he took a deep breath and began telling Shaka his story. "It happened last year, when Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and I were all 5, and when Spike hatched. At this time, we were still on our journey to the Great Valley after the land around it deteriorated to the point where there was too little food and water to go around, so we had to try and find this "Great Valley", which we once thought to be a myth. At this point on the day that we first encountered Sharptooth, Cera and I were somehow playing together in a small pond, which was a lot more impressive than it sounds, since at the time, Cera's dad was even worse, and Cera was nowhere near as nice as she is now."

 _6_

"Anyways," Cera picked up the role of telling Shaka what happened, "as Littlefoot and I were playing in the pond, that was when Sharptooth attacked. Sharptooth was the same kind of dinosaur that Chomper is, except that Sharptooth was fully grown, and he was certainly not so friendly. When we saw him, saw the killer look in his eyes, Littlefoot and I knew that Sharptooth was intent on killing us and eating us. We ran into a small forest of thorns and spiny trees trying to get away from him, and at one point, Littlefoot sent a thorny vine into his right eye, blinding it. This just made Sharptooth even madder, and his desire to kill us even stronger. When we ran out of that thorny forest, Sharptooth caught us out in the open, and he would have eaten us, had it not been for Littlefoot's Mother."

"That was when my mother jumped in." Littlefoot continued. "She hit Sharptooth with her tail, and sent him flying back into a rock. When Sharptooth was sent into the rock wall, he headbutted his way out of the rubble, and he began fighting my mother. For a little bit, it seemed that my mother would win, and that we would all be alright."

"But that was when it took a turn for the worst." Cera added. "At that moment, an earthquake struck. A huge crack opened up in the ground, and it separated me from my mom, my dad, and my sisters, and Littlefoot from his Grandparents. Littlefoot's mother continued fighting Sharptooth, but the earthquake distracted her, and when her attention was turned away, Sharptooth, with some crazy power, jumped on her back from a LONG way away, and began tearing the skin on her back to shreds. It was obviously scary to watch this, but what made it REALLY scary was that Sharptooth seemed to ENJOY tearing Littlefoot's mother apart, and he seemed to enjoy causing her pain. However, he wasn't immune to the effects of the earthquake either, and he eventually fell off of her back, and into the huge crack in the ground. Littlefoot and I almost fell in too, but even though she was dying, Littlefoot's mother managed to save us. After than, I ran to where my family was, only to find that there was a huge crack separating me from them. I ran along the crack, hoping to find a spot where I could get over the crack so that I could be with my family again. But I had completely forgotten about Littlefoot."

 _23_

"Just then, another crack separated me from my mother." Littlefoot hung his head. "As sky water began pouring down, I had to jump over several cracks to get to where my mother was. When I found her, though, there wasn't anything I could do. She was bleeding to death, and was almost there when I found her. When I begged her to get up, she just fell back down. She used that last bit of her strength to give me one last piece of advice, to let my heart guide me, and that it whispered, so I had to listen closely. But that advice didn't stick at the time, since my mother's death hit me so hard that I didn't really want to live anymore. For awhile, I was just wandering around, not caring if I lived or died, that is...until I met Ducky."

Then, it was Ducky's turn to tell her part of the story. "The earthquake separated-ed me up from my family, and it was not fun for me, nope nope nope. When I met Littlefoot, he was very sad. He was. But then I told-ed him that I was alone and lost too, so that he would not feel alone anymore. He was still sad, but I made him want to live again, yep yep yep! Then we found-ed Petrie."

Now, it was Petrie's turn. "Big earthquake scared away family, and they fly away, but leave Petrie behind, because me could not fly at the time, so me could not keep up. So me stuck in little tree. Then me find me-self...face-to-face with Littlefoot when he pull down vine that me on. We both scream, me go flying into a small hole. Then Ducky find me in hole, and me decide to go with Littlefoot and Ducky. Then, me meet Cera."

Cera began telling her part of the story again. "Now, if you didn't know, I ended up falling into the crack as I looked for a way to get past it. I didn't die, of course, but as I was wandering around in there, I came across Sharptooth. I thought he was dead, so I had the _brilliant_ idea to use his head for ramming practice. I know, not a good idea. But at the time, I wasn't just a jerk, I was also not very smart, because my dad raised me in a way so that I was so arrogant that I had a bad case of being dumb AND stupid. I was lucky that I had just enough common sense to run away when Sharptooth woke up from me ramming him, and I ran outta that crack as fast as I could. After a little while of running, I met up with Littlefoot again, who now had Ducky and Petrie with him. Of course, me being blinded by pride, I tried to fool all 3 of them with some made-up story about me defeating Sharptooth. Ducky and Petrie sorta fell for it, but Littlefoot, being the smart guy he was and is, saw right through it and told me that I was wrong. When I tried to "prove" my little story to Ducky, I accidentally sent her flying some distance away into some tall grass. And that's where we met Spike."

Ducky then continued the story. "I hit-ed a vine as I fell down, so it slowed my fall. It did. When I got up, I saw what looked like a nest, and when I looked inside, I saw this big, big, big egg in the nest. It hatched right after I found it, and it was a boy spiketail, so I named him "Spike". He was very hungry, yep yep yep, so he ate-ed his own nest! Then Littlefoot, Cera, and Petrie found us, and I used-ed sweet bubbles to make him follow us. I did."

 _20_

Littlefoot got a turn to speak again. "That night, we slept together, which meant progress, since Cera did it for the first time. But the next morning, to our surprise and horror...Sharptooth attacked AGAIN, and right as we were waking up! We had to make a run for it to avoid getting eaten by him, and we had to squeeze through a hole in a wall to escape him for the time."

 _21_

Cera then began speaking again, though in a regretful tone. "Now, I was really mad and really frustrated, because I wasn't getting my way, and being the selfish jerk that I was, I thought that we were going the wrong way. Eventually, when we came across another barren canyon, I got into an argument with Littlefoot that turned into a fight when I insulted his mother. I won that fight, of course, and I went the direction that I thought was the "right" way, and for some reason, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike were following me. Of course, being the stupid jerk that I was, I was a terrible leader. Petrie got stuck in tar, and Ducky and Spike were trapped on rocks above a lava lake, and I didn't try helping any of them. But then, as I went on with my way, I encountered these 3 Domeheads. Domeheads are flatteeth like Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and I are, but the thing about these 3 was that they tried to kill me and eat me, even though they weren't sharpteeth. But right as they were about to eat me, there was this big black...thing that showed up. I didn't know what it was, but it scared away the Domeheads. As you might guess, I was pretty mad and pretty embarrassed when the "thing" turned out to be Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike covered in tar. Littlefoot had saved them, and they used the tar to save me, although it didn't quite felt like they saved me at the time. I just stormed off, but when I was out of their sight, I just broke down. I realized that everything my dad told me about threehorns and other species was wrong, and I realized just how stupid and mean I had been."

 _24_

Littlefoot then picked up the storytelling role again, this time for the final time. "As Cera went off, the others and I washed the tar off ourselves in a nearby lake. But then, we noticed Sharptooth nearby. I wanted to get payback on him for killing my mother, of course, but I had actually found the valley before I went back to save the others, and now I realized that Sharptooth was going to the valley, and if he got in there, the valley would be coated in blood from all the dinosaurs that he would certainly kill. So I came up with a plan to get rid of him. First, Ducky would lure him to the pond. When Sharptooth was in the deep end of the pond, Petrie would whistle to give us the signal. When Petrie whistled, Spike and I would push a boulder on Sharptooth's head, killing him. The plan was working well, that is, until Sharptooth managed to climb on top of the boulder. We would have been dead if Cera hadn't made up her mind and come back to save us. She rammed the rock as hard as she could, and it sent the boulder, and Sharptooth, over the edge, and into the pond. Sharptooth tried to take Petrie with him, but Sharptooth had accidentally helped Petrie learn how to fly, so Petrie was able to escape him. With that, Sharptooth finally died. It was very satisfying to see him go. Not long after, we finally entered the Great Valley. We were all happy to see our families again, well, all except for Cera, who only pretended to be happy to see her father again, when she was actually upset with him because he lied to her. Also, if you don't already know, Spike was adopted into Ducky's family. That's our story for you, in case you wanted to know what happened."

 _8_

Shaka, Chomper, and Ruby were speechless once the story was finished. They hadn't been expecting Sharptooth to be so monstrous, Cera to be so arrogant and stupid, and Littlefoot to be so cunning. Shaka, especially, was impressed with how they managed to tell this story to him, since they were clearly struggling to keep their composure and keep themselves from crying.

But then, as Shaka thought about how the gang had portrayed Sharptooth, and what they told him about the carnivore, he noticed a lot of disturbing pieces of evidence that had a lot of consistencies with someone who was mentally ill AND violent, which was a dangerous combination, as proven in the case of humans like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot, three of the most infamous cases of this in his old world.

"Hey, kids, I think I might know what made Sharptooth so violent and so monstrous, even for a meat-eating dinosaur." Shaka began.

"Go ahead, tell us." Petrie encouraged.

"I think Sharptooth was mentally ill."

After a few moments of thinking, the young dinosaurs stared at him with "Wait, What?" looks on their faces."

"Uhh, Shaka, could you tell us what that is?" Chomper asked.

"Well, that just means that his mental health wasn't all that good." Shaka explained. "If something's mental, it involves the brain. Someone's brain can actually be sick, just like their body can be sick. But it's even worse if it's the brain, because the brain determines how we act, so the brain being sick can have some...unpleasant consequences. Sometimes, this sick brain results from "going mad" for real, or having a condition. As for Sharptooth, I don't know WHAT exactly was wrong with his brain. Maybe he went mad-lost his sanity, or he had some sort of condition that messed up his thought process, but whatever it was, it made him crazy and erratic and very very violent. Not that him being mentally ill would make me feel sorry for him, because his sanity was LONG gone when you kids encountered him, and I do think that you kids did the right thing by taking him down, because you did it to save this valley, and the dinosaurs in it."

Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike perked up when Shaka told them that they did the right thing. It had been pretty hard for them to tell their story, and they were almost crying at some points while they were telling him the story. They felt happier when they were told that they did the right thing, because it made them feel like their suffering was worth it.

"Well, uh, it's good to know that we did the right thing." Cera blushed a little. "Hee!"

Shaka affectionately petted Cera's head in response. Even though Cera usually didn't like others touching her, she decided that it was just fine if it was Shaka, because she trusted him, as he was pretty similar to her, and he was also gentle when hugging or holding her.

Seeing as the kids were telling him about hard events in their past, Shaka decided that it would be appropriate to tell them about his own. "Hey kids, do you want to hear about the darkest day of MY past? You already told me about yours, so I guess it would only be fitting if I told you about mine."

"Go on, tell us." Ruby replied. "You can tell us about your past, tell us about your past you can."

Shaka had to breathe in, breathe out, because this was a pretty hard thing to talk about, but nevertheless, he began telling them his story. "As bad as your experience with Sharptooth was, it had nothing on what I went through. It happened four years ago, when I was 11. At the time, we had just moved away from Kochi, where I had been living all my life, and to a place called "Onagawa". I was sick that day, so I didn't have to go to school. What happened made me VERY glad that I didn't go to school that day."

"So...what happened?" Littlefoot asked.

 _25_

"That was when a HUGE earthquake, the largest to ever hit Japan, struck." Shaka answered. "The ground started shaking hard, and I mean HARD. I saw people's homes falling apart and falling down. My home was on a hill, and somehow, it did not collapse, but on the land below, pretty much every single house and building collapsed, and so many of them collapsed that there was a cloud of dust hanging above the land. and I think I saw people getting crushed by debris. Cracks formed on the hill that our home was on, and although it didn't split up the land, water spewed out of the cracks and flowed down the hill like a river. But the worst was yet to come."

"...What happened next?" Chomper asked hesitantly.

"You know where the land meets the water?" Shaka asked in response. Then, he answered his own question. "We humans call that area the "Coast". You see, when a large earthquake happens near the coast, the water will initially pull back from the shore, but then it comes back, and it floods the land near the coast as a wave called a "tsunami". That's exactly what happened, except this one wasn't just an average-sized one. No, this one was a MASSIVE one that was as high as a longneck is tall! Once again, because my home was on a hill, my family and I survived, but all of the people in the surrounding land began making a run for the hills. Many of them did not make it. When the waves struck, they destroyed anything that hadn't been destroyed by the earthquake. And they swept away many of my fellow humans. As much as I wanted to do something about it, I knew that I could only watch as the waves dragged them out to sea. If you had been there with me, you likely would have come to know it as "The Day The Land Fell", because it almost looked like the land itself was falling into the water."

 _8_

The young dinosaurs looked upset when they heard that the tsunami had killed some of Shaka's fellow humans. But they were shocked when Shaka told them just how many.

"Onagawa wasn't the only place affected." Shaka continued. "The entire east coast of Japan was affected. That day...more than 18,000 of my fellow humans were killed by that earthquake and tsunami, more than 800 of them in Onagawa alone."

Now, the young dinosaurs were both shocked and saddened. They realized that this must have been why he moved from Japan to America: Japan had been wrecked by the earthquake and tsunami, and so many humans had died.

"Did you feel sad or scared, like we did when the earthquake we dealt with split us up from our families?" Ducky asked.

"Well, both of them are pretty much givens when you've seen thousands of your own kind die just because the ground shook and some waves hit the shore!" Shaka snapped back. He didn't like being asked stupid questions on topics like these. He cooled down, though, when he saw the young dinosaurs' reaction to his response.

"There you go." Shaka told them. "That's my past for you. That's also the reason why I moved from Japan to America. Anyways, I think we all need to cool off after talking about stuff like this for so long."

The gang nodded in agreement, and they rested for a few minutes to settle down. All this talk of tragedy was hard on them, and though they needed to do it at some point, it took a lot out of them.

After a few minutes of resting, though, Shaka realized that he hadn't really gotten to know the families of the kids yet.

 _13_

"Hey, kids, I haven't really met your families yet." Shaka realized. "Maybe you could help me do that?"

The young dinosaurs thought about it for a few moments, before deciding it was a good idea.

"Yeah, I guess we could help you with that." Littlefoot agreed. "Come on!"

With that, the gang began taking Shaka to visit their families.

* * *

 **Yeah, quite the mood whiplash in this one. The gang actually tells someone about their past experiences to someone for the first time. You might have noticed that Cera, though mostly in-character, seems to be acting quite self-depreciative of herself-she calls her past self a "jerk", her past actions "stupid", and even snarks at herself a few times while telling Shaka her story. You might think that this bit is out of character, since Cera usually almost always has a very high opinion of herself in canon. But in this story, Cera's gone through quite some character development, to the point that she's realized just how mean and how stupid she was, so she's decided to change for the better. So in this story, while she's still that tough and cute little tomboy threehorn we all know and adore, she a's lot nicer (though still not as nice as Ducky) and a lot wiser (though still not as wise as Littlefoot) than her canon counterpart, and she's learning that it's possible to be nice, yet tough, at the same time (i.e. "Beware The Nice Ones").**

 **And as for the Earthquake and Tsunami that Shaka survived, even though Shaka is a fictional character, it was a real-life event. And by that, I am talking about the Earthquake and Tsunami that hit Eastern Japan in March 2011.**

 **You might have noticed that I replaced "Earthshake" with "Earthquake", and "Cold Time" with "Year", but that's just for the sake of telling a story.**

* * *

 **Soundtrack** **:**

23\. Genghis Khan (Peace) - Civ 5 (PC)

24\. Nebuchadnezzar II (War) - Civ 5 (PC)

25\. Tsunami - Shogun 2: Total War (PC)


	10. 1-1-10: Meeting The Families

**DISCLAIMER: PREPARE FOR LONG CHAPTER.**

* * *

 _13 (continued)_

Now, Shaka was on the way to where Littlefoot's Grandparents were. After a short period of thinking, Shaka had chosen to visit with Littlefoot's Grandparents first, since they were both warm and welcoming. With the young dinosaurs secretly following him, Shaka went to where Littlefoot's Grandparents were so that he could get to know them better. It was only a few minutes before Shaka found them, and they weren't expecting to see him.

"You're back with the kids already, Shaka?" Grandpa Longneck asked in surprise. "I thought you were out there playing with them."

"Ah, well, they decided to explain to me what happened to Littlefoot's mother." Shaka explained. "As you could guess, it was...pretty hard to listen to. So, I decided to get to know their families in order to cool down. Is there a problem with that?"

"No, there isn't." Grandma Longneck responded. "It's a good move for someone to get to know the family of their new friend when they're new to the valley, like you."

With the young dinosaurs listening quietly, Shaka began by asking them a few questions. However, the answers that he got were not quite what he was expecting.

"So, to start, was Littlefoot's mother...your daughter?" Shaka asked. He did not want to insult them by accident.

"Yes, she was." Grandpa Longneck calmly answered.

"Well then, how old was she?"

"She was 60 when she had Littlefoot, and 65 when she died." Grandma Longneck casually replied. But Shaka's tone wasn't so casual when he heard this.

 _9_

"SHE WAS 65?!" Shaka practically jumped at the revelation. Though 65 was still a little too young to die, he was shocked that Littlefoot's mother was 60 when she had Littlefoot. He was expecting her to be in her 20s or 30s at the time that she died.

The young dinosaurs were quietly giggling away at Shaka's shocked expression. They found it hilarious that, after managing to keep a mostly stoic expression for a full day, Shaka finally lost his composure for once, and over a silly thing like someone's age. They didn't know why it surprised him, since ages as high as Littlefoot's Mother's were rather common for a dinosaur parent. That didn't matter much, though, since Shaka's reaction was funny anyways. And it would only get even funnier.

"Then how old does that make you?!" Shaka asked Grandpa and Grandma Longneck in surprise.

But their answer was going to really shock him.

"Well, we're both 130." Grandpa Longneck answered.

As expected, this REALLY made Shaka lose his cool.

"A HUNDRED AND THIRTY?!"

At this point, the young dinosaurs finally lost it and began rolling on the ground, laughing hard. To them, this situation was just too funny to not laugh at. Shaka noticed them laughing, and he was a little embarrassed.

Now, Grandma Longneck was curious as to why Shaka was so surprised, so she decided to ask him.

"Why are you surprised about our ages, Shaka?" Grandma Longneck asked.

"It's simple, humans don't live that long, or have children so late." Shaka told her. "We humans really only live to 100 years at the max, although there was one female of our kind that lived to 122, and we usually only have children at the ages of 20 to 40."

"Well, we dinosaurs can live for as long as 200 years, and we can have hatchlings as old as 80." Grandpa Longneck replied.

"Oh, okay, that explains it." Shaka shrugged. "You dinosaurs just live longer."

"Exactly." Grandma Longneck confirmed.

After this, Shaka decided to change the subject.

 _26_

"So, what do you think of Littlefoot?" Shaka asked. "For me, personally...it's hard to not like him. I think that he's really nice and really well behaved. On top of that, his maturity is that of someone about twice or three times his age, maybe more."

Grandpa and Grandma Longneck looked at each other for a few seconds before Grandpa gave his answer.

"Well, even if he is really nice and really wise for his age, I personally think that he is a little naughty at times." Grandpa Longneck answered in slight disagreement, confusing Shaka. In the background, Littlefoot was a little nervous about his grandparents saying this about him.

"...I find that hard to swallow." Shaka tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Could you explain to me why you think he's naughty?"

"It's because, at times, he doesn't follow the rules that we have made for his safety." Grandma Longneck explained. "Now, a lot of the time, we let him off, because we know that his heart is in the right place, but that doesn't mean that we don't get angry at him from time to time."

Shaka was now wanting to find out about a situation where Littlefoot's Grandparents were angry at him for supposedly disobeying them. "Alright then, tell me a situation where you did get angry at him. I want to know a little more about this whole thing."

Grandpa Longneck had a thinking look for a few seconds before explaining to him.

"Well, there was the time when Littlefoot and his friends almost drowned in quicksand." Grandpa Longneck replied. "You see, there's an area in this valley known as the "sheltering grass" because of how tall the grass is, and there's some quicksand in there. This happened about a year ago, though it was after we got to the valley, of course. We distinctly told our grandson and his friends not to go to the sheltering grass, but for reasons that we still don't know, they went there anyways, and as you might guess, they fell in the quicksand, and they would have drowned if I didn't show up there in time. Understand that we just want to protect Littlefoot, because he is all that we have left after Sharptooth's attack."

When Grandpa Longneck was done telling him this, Shaka was left thinking. This story did seem pretty sound, because it sounded like something that would actually have happened. However, there was one problem with this story. When Grandpa Longneck was telling the part of the story where he had told Littlefoot and his friends not to go to the sheltering grass, he hadn't bothered to say anything about whether he had explained it to them or not. This could mean two things: either Grandpa Longneck had taken the time to explain to the kids why he told them not to go there, and he just hadn't put that part in the story...

...or it could mean that he didn't even bother explaining it to them at all, and the kids had gone to the sheltering grass out of curiosity, because they wanted to find out the missing part of the truth.

To find his answer, Shaka decided to ask the young dinosaurs themselves, since they likely remembered the incident, and therefore would have remembered if their parents had told them not to go to the grass.

"Hey, kids," Shaka got the attention of the young dinosaurs, "did any of your parents, these two included, ever explain to you why they told you not to go to the sheltering grass before you almost drowned in the quicksand?"

The young dinosaurs looked at each other, but then they shook their heads.

"They didn't even _try_ to explain to us why they told us not to go there." Cera responded. "Because of that, we thought that they were just lying to us only to scare us, and we didn't know that there was quicksand there until we stumbled upon it."

Now knowing his answer, Shaka turned back to Littlefoot's grandparents.

"Is this true?" Shaka asked.

The two of them looked at each other, looking a little ashamed, before Grandma Longneck gave him the answer.

"Yes, it is." Grandma Longneck sighed.

 _27_

At that moment, Shaka, who had been sitting down, stood up. He had quite the look of irritation and disappointment as he looked at Grandma and Grandpa Longneck.

"I'm gonna be honest here." Shaka told them with a tone of annoyance. "If I had been there, and I just had to bend water and mud to get those kids out of that quicksand, I would have blown my top at the two of you and the other parents. Poor communication KILLS, and it almost did right there. On top of that, whether it was unintentionally so or not, I HATE lousy parenting, or parenting that makes it looks like the parent has absolutely no idea what he or she is doing."

The young dinosaurs were a little surprised as Shaka continued his rant.

"My mother and my father worked HARD to avoid mistakes like that." Shaka continued. "They knew that the "because I say so" stuff just didn't work on me, so whenever they told me that I couldn't do something, they always explained why, so that they could avoid mistakes like what happened with your kids and the quicksand. What mattered to them was that they were doing their jobs as parents properly. I'm pretty sure that, just like I would have, they would have chewed you and the others out big time for what happened at the sheltering grass."

Then, Shaka breathed for a bit before he finished speaking.

"Whenever you tell the kids not to do something, explain to them why. They are fully aware of the fact that there is a world out there, one that they want to know about, and it should also be apparent that they don't fall for the "Because I Say So" stuff, which is basically you telling them to do something or to not do something without explaining it to them. If you truly want to protect them, then instead of just trying to physically be there for them all of the time and trying to physically protect them all the time, instill them with knowledge about the necessary things in life. If they learn early, they will remember it longer, and if it was good advice, they will always remember it. You must remember that you can only physically protect your children for so long, that is, while they are still children. Once they're all grown up, they will have to protect themselves."

Littlefoot's Grandparents were quiet for a few moments, but then they smiled when they thought that they had a reply.

 _26_

"Well, then I guess that we will have to protect our grandson as much as we can until he grows up." Grandpa Longneck remarked.

But that was not the answer Shaka was wanting.

"Hey, hey, hey, hold up, hold up." Shaka told them. "I think I forgot to mention this, and I should have mentioned it earlier, but there is such a thing as being TOO protective of your kids. Your "protect him as much as we can" mindset tells me that you really need to give Littlefoot some breathing room. I suggest letting him take care of himself if he wants to to fix that. There are prices to pay for being overprotective, after all. If you've been overprotective of your kids, and you haven't been allowing them to take care of themselves, you will be faced with at least one of two situations once they grow up. The first situation is that they have become too over-reliant on you, and they require you to take care of themselves all the time, and the second situation is where your kids have become fed up with your stubborn parenting and you not giving them a break. The results of the first situation is that your kids aren't able to take care of themselves once they leave the nest, and the results of the second situation is that your kids eventually have had enough of your nonsense and have a falling out with you. Both are bad, which is why your should not be overprotective. So my advice here is that, though you can still protect your grandson if necessary, only do so if he can't protect or take care of himself in that situation."

Littlefoot's Grandparents were quiet again, as they were quite surprised at how complex of a request Shaka was making, before Grandma Longneck mustered an answer.

"Um, I'm not quite sure if we can do that, Shaka." Grandma Longneck responded. "You see, there have been quite a few times where we've almost lost Littlefoot, and when that happens, we often feel helpless, like when Sharptooth attacked, or whenever the children went adventuring and ended up outside the valley, and a few other situations. And that is why we want to protect him so much: so that we don't feel helpless. But now, you've come here, and you present us with a very unique challenge, as you are perhaps the first to tell us that we're being too protective of our grandson. And because of that, even with all our wisdom, we don't quite know if we can do this. So how WILL we take care of our grandson without upsetting you, given that you don't like "lousy parenting"?"

"Well, there is another option." Shaka replied. "You could just have me take care of him. It's called "babysitting". I think I've figured out Littlefoot already, even though it's just my second day here in the valley, although that might be because I understand his mindset. You know, his playfulness, his energy, his sense of adventure...he reminds me of what I myself was when I was his age. Because of that, I think I could do a pretty good job being a "babysitter" of sorts for him. What do you two think?"

Grandma and Grandpa Longneck looked at each other yet again, thinking.

"What do you think, Miriam?" Grandpa Longneck asked his mate. "Do you think that Shaka could be a good babysitter for Littlefoot?"

"Well, Kenneth, I don't see a problem with it." Grandma Longneck answered. "Shaka does seem to have already grown close to our grandson. Besides, Shaka's heart is in the right place, not to mention that he's 15 while our Grandson is 6, so he will likely be wiser."

"Then I don't see a problem with it either." Grandpa Longneck replied. Then, he looked at Shaka. "Very well, Shaka, you're welcome to babysit our grandson. You seem to be the right one for the job, after all. Just make sure you keep him safe."

"Thank you, and I will keep him safe." Shaka thanked them. Then, he remembered that he had the families of the rest of the gang to visit. "Umm, sorry to end this conversation so early, but I'm going to go meet the families of the rest of these kids now. Have a nice day, and remember my advice."

"You too, Shaka, and we will remember your advice." Grandma and Grandpa responded in kind.

With that, Shaka left with the kids, and they went to find the other families.

 _10_

On the way to the next family, Shaka noticed the young dinosaurs looking a bit stressed out.

"Something wrong?" Shaka asked.

"Well, we don't want to be breathed down our backs by our parents!" Cera answered, a little annoyed. "Now, they just made you our babysitter so that they can still get on our nerves even when they aren't around!"

"Oh, I think you misunderstood me." Shaka chuckled. "Just because I'm a babysitter for Littlefoot doesn't mean that I'm a puppet for them to use. In fact, my style of babysitting all of you, if I was one for all of you, is much different than the style of parenting that your parents have. I am quite aware that you kids are pretty darn mature for your ages, and you can handle yourselves for the most part, even able to take on Sharpteeth. Pretty good for a bunch of 6 year old kids."

The young dinosaurs calmed down upon hearing this.

"So, you were actually doing this to give us some relief?" Littlefoot asked.

"Exactly. Shaka answered. "In fact, I prefer to be seen as a friend, rather than a babysitter."

"Oh, well, alright then, I guess we can live with that." Cera decided. Now, she was relieved that Shaka was different from their parents, and was aware of just WHO they were.

After a few seconds of silence, Shaka decided to ask the young dinosaurs about which family he was going to meet with next.

"So, which family am I going to visit next?" Shaka asked. "I've already visited Littlefoot's family. Any other families I could visit?"

"Well, there's Cera's family, Ducky and Spike's family, and Petrie's family." Chomper answered. "You can pick which one you want to visit."

"Well, Cera seems pretty nice," Shaka decided, making Cera blush when he said she was nice, "so I guess I'll go with her family next. Of course, I'll have to avoid whoever her father is."

"You got that right, Shaka." Cera responded. "You'll definitely have to try avoiding my dad. Other than that, though, Tria, my stepmom, and Tricia, my little half-sister, are just fine with having visitors."

So with that, the young dinosaurs began leading Shaka to where Tria and Tricia were. They knew that they had to find a time where Mr Threehorn wasn't with them, since he would no doubt give them a headache if they tried to introduce Shaka to them. Luckily, there were quite a few times where Tria and Tricia were away from Mr Threehorn, so they had quite a few chances.

However, only a minute in, they had to take a detour. It was because-you guessed it-Shaka was hungry.

"Uh, sorry, kids, but I think I need to find some food for a second." Shaka told them. "Haven't eaten anything all morning."

"Maybe you think about that earlier?" Petrie snarked at him.

"You should eat earlier in the morning, eat earlier in the morning you should." Ruby added.

"I know, I'm a _baka_ for not eating earlier." Shaka responded, throwing a foreign language word into the mix.

But the young dinosaurs were surprised by this new word they just heard.

"Wait a second, "baka"?" Littlefoot asked. "I don't think I've heard that one before."

"It's Japanese for "idiot"." Shaka bluntly explained.

"Well then, yeah, you were a "baka" for not eating earlier BEFORE we began introducing you to our families." Cera told him.

Shaka just shrugged, before he began looking for some food. Luckily enough, he soon found some.

In a nearby tree, Shaka spotted some yellow fruit. The fruit looked like pears, and although Shaka hadn't eaten pears very often, they still tasted decent to him. And they were much more filling than grapes, which Shaka found a little unfortunate, since he liked grapes much better.

The fact that the pears were in the trees may seem to make them impossible to get to, that is, unless you remember that Shaka was skilled at bending all 4 elements, including air. So he decided to show off a little.

"Watch this." Shaka told them as he seemed to crouch a bit, ready to jump.

Then, with the young dinosaurs watching, Shaka used airbending to jump high into the air, and he yanked down one of the pears from the tree. Being able to bend earth as well, though, made the ground shake a bit when he landed. Even then, the young dinosaurs were impressed.

"Wow, you can jump, yep yep yep!" Ducky cheered.

"Maybe you flyer in disguise!" Petrie chuckled.

"Nope, just an airbending trick!" Shaka responded. "Trust me, you kids are gonna see a lot of bending."

"Well, I can't wait to see more!" Chomper said, excited.

"You won't have to wait long." Shaka assured him. Then, he decided to ask them if anyone among them was wanting some pears. "So, is anyone else hungry for some of these pears?"

"Well, if that's what you call them, yeah, we are a little hungry." Littlefoot replied, and the rest of the dinosaur gang nodded in agreement.

So Shaka jumped up and yanked a WHOLE BUNCH of pears off of the tree, and gave them to the young dinosaurs. All of them then sat down under the tree and began eating. They were all rather hungry, so they finished their little snack fairly quickly.

After about a minute, they were all finished eating the pears, and they were just starting to rest again when a large, pink colored adult Triceratops, and a lighter colored baby of the same species showed up.

 _28_

"Oh, good morning, kids!" the adult greeted.

"Good morning, Tria." the young dinosaurs replied. Shaka took a mental note that this adult's name must be "Tria".

It wasn't long before the adult noticed Shaka.

"I see the kids made a new friend." Tria remarked as she looked at Shaka. "Perhaps you would like to introduce yourself?"

"Ah, well, I was just about to do that." Shaka responded back. "I'm trying to get to know the families of these kids, and Cera here told me that she had a stepmother and a half-sister."

"Well, I am her stepmother." Tria replied. Then, she motioned to the baby triceratops. "And this little one is Tricia, and she is Cera's half-sister."

"Good to know that I found you." Shaka told her. Then, he decided to get straight to introductions. "Now, to start, my name is Shaka. I am not a dinosaur, but a creature known as a "human". Kinda like Ruby here, I am part meat-eater, but also part plant-eater. Of course, I am...not amused, to say the least, by the thought of eating someone or something that talks to me, so you're safe with me. Besides, this is about as big as I get."

"Oh, well, it's very interesting to see another halftooth on our side." Tria was impressed by the fact that the gang had been able to befriend ANOTHER meat-eater (well, part meat-eater, anyways).

Then, she eyed Tricia looking up at the lone tree sweet in the tree, and remembered what she came here for. "Anyways, Tricia was hungry, so I decided to find her something to eat. It looks like she wants that tree sweet up there, but it's a little too high for even me to reach."

At that moment, the young dinosaurs remembered how high Shaka could jump, and Cera spoke up.

"Hey, you could just have Shaka get it." Cera pointed out. "He can jump really high, and he could easily reach that one."

Tria looked at Shaka, who grinned and nodded.

"Just make sure Tricia's out of the way." Shaka told her. "I don't think that you need to ask why."

"Okay, come here, Tricia." Cera called out to her half-sister in response. "This guy's going to get you some food!"

Tricia, in understanding, ran over to her big sister, who was sitting under the tree. Then, she, Tria, and the gang all watched Shaka, who was now directly under where the tree sweet was. Once he was under it, he gave them a knowing grin. Then, to everyone's surprise, he uttered a foreign language phrase.

"Coimhead agus ionnsachadh. (Watch and learn.)." Shaka told them in Scots Gaelic. At that moment, he jumped high into the air, grabbing the pear, and then landed back down on the ground. Then, once he got the pear, he went over to where Tricia was and set it down in front of her.

"Go on, I know you wanted it." Shaka told her.

Tricia briefly looked at him for a moment before digging in to the pear. She was a rather messy eater, surprisingly enough, but hey, she was a threehorn, and threehorns weren't exactly noted for their manners.

Tria was quite impressed by Shaka's jumping ability, but she didn't quite get what he said right before he jumped.

"Well, you were a pretty good jumper, Shaka." Tria thanked him. "But I didn't quite get what you said right before you jumped. What was it...Coimhead...agus...what?"

"Oh, that was in another language that I also speak in other than the one we are talking in right now." Shaka explained. "That language is called "Scots Gaelic", or just "Gaelic" for short. In that language, "Coimhead agus ionnsachadh" means "watch and learn"."

"Oh, I get it now." Tria replied. "Well, it's interesting that you know another language. And thank you for helping Tricia get something to eat."

"It's an honor." Shaka told her. "And besides, I also know 2 other languages known as "Japanese" and "Zulu". So, in the language that we are speaking right now, you know how we say "hello" when we greet each other? Well, in Gaelic, we say "Halo", and I know it sounds similar, but then in Japanese, we say "Kon'nichiwa", and in Zulu, we say "Sawubona", and that's just scratching the surface. I may have to teach the kids at least one of these languages at some point."

"Well, that would be very interesting indeed." Tria remarked. "Being able to speak in something other than "Flattooth", which is just our name for what we are speaking in right now, would be a very unique ability."

"And it is." Shaka responded. Then, seeing as how he was meeting the families of the kids, and how he wanted to know about what they thought of the kids, he decided to change the subject. "So, anyways, I was talking to Littlefoot's grandparents earlier about what they thought of Littlefoot, so my question is this: what do you think of Cera?"

Tria began thinking for a few minutes, carefully choosing her words, before giving her answer.

"Well, it's a little hard to say this, but I think that Cera is something of a blessing to have around." Tria answered. "Of course, she wasn't always as nice as she is now. I don't know if she already told you this, but she used to be a lot less friendly towards other species, perhaps because she was still letting Topsy influence her beliefs."

"And Topsy is..."

"My husband." Tria told him. "As much as I love him, even I have to say that he can be somewhat insufferable."

Speaking of Tria's husband, both she and Shaka heard a deep, gruff voice.

"Tria? Have you found food for Tricia yet?"

Just a few seconds later, Mr. Threehorn came on scene. His expression was initially softer than it had been earlier, but the moment that he saw Shaka, his face went back to grumpy and ill tempered.

"Oh, it's you." Mr. Threehorn growled.

"A pleasure." Shaka replied sarcastically.

"Are you bothering Tria and our kids?" Mr. Threehorn accused. Unfortunately for him, though, Shaka had a very strong comeback.

"And this is coming from the guy who just decided to butt in?" Shaka shot back. "You need to realize that I was just having a conversation with Tria, and you decided that interrupting it was a brilliant idea. You know that it's very rude to do that, right?"

"Well, Tria's my wife, and-" Mr. Threehorn was in the middle of a retort when Tria shot him down.

"Topsy." Tria scolded her mate with a single word, making him look at her. "Shaka has a point. I was talking with him, and you interrupted. How rude. Right now, you need to give us some space."

Mr. Threehorn was silent for a few seconds, and then glanced at the kids, about to tell Cera and Tricia to come with him, as he didn't want them playing with this "human", but he had to toss that thought out the window when he noticed all 8 kids, even Cera and Tricia, giving him an annoyed look that basically screamed "Are you kidding me?", as if they had also been offended by him interrupting Shaka and Tria. After a few more seconds, he finally relented.

"Fine." Mr. Threehorn huffed in defeat. "You can talk with her if you want."

Then, he stormed off, muttering. "Urgh, why can't I get my way anymore? My mate scolds me, my daughters refuse to listen, and now this "human" comes in without my approval...you gotta be kidding me!"

Once the bull threehorn was out of sight, Shaka shook his head.

"Wow, you're right, he is insufferable." Shaka agreed with Tria on her saying that Mr. Threehorn could be insufferable.

"Unfortunately." Tria added. Even though she loved her husband, like any decent person would, even she was wishing that he was less arrogant and ill-tempered. "And it's quite a shame that Cera's already quickly catching up to his maturity; there are a lot of times when Topsy's acting like a child, and many times when Cera is more mature than him."

Shaka simply shrugged in agreement. Sometimes, children acted more mature than their parents, and that was quite unfortunate. Then, he decided to change the topic.

"So anyways," Shaka began, "Littlefoot's grandparents actually liked the idea of me being a babysitter for their grandson. I was wondering if I could do the same for Cera. Basically, I watch her for you, so you don't have to worry about her. Thing is, I think that what these kids need is some breathing room, so just having me watch them will help with that. And don't worry, I'll keep her safe. What do you think?"

"Hmmm..." Tria carefully thought out her answer before accepting his offer. "Well, I don't really have anything against that idea. Cera actually told me about how a new friend of hers saved her and the others and brought them back to the valley, and I think that by this "new friend", she meant you. Since you're already acting like a good friend of theirs, not to mention that you're old enough for babysitting, I'm going to say "yes". Of course, my mate would not agree, but then again, as you may have seen, he treats every single newcomer here like that."

"So, does that mean that I can indeed babysit Cera?" Shaka asked.

Tria nodded her head. Nearby, Cera, who was listening in on the conversation, smiled at this. Now, her parents didn't have to bug her all the time.

"Well then, thank you Tria." Shaka thanked her. Then, he decided that it was time for him and the young dinosaurs to move on to the next family. "Anyways, I've still got some more of these kids' families to get to know, so I guess it's time for us to get moving."

Then, he turned to the young dinosaurs. "Alright kids, let's get going. I think we still have two more families to visit."

Complying, the gang got up and walked to Shaka's side. Before they could leave, though, Shaka felt a set of little forepaws batting at his feet. He looked down and saw Tricia at his feet, jumping up and down on her hind paws like a puppy wanting attention, and this was enough so that, secretly, Shaka was trying not to have a cuteness overload.

"I guess Tricia wants to say "thank you" before we leave." Cera remarked.

"Alright then, come here." Shaka responded towards the little threehorn at his feet. At that, he picked the youngling up and gently hugged her. He had to be careful, since Tricia was pretty young, about 5 years younger than Cera at the least, but even then, Tricia enjoyed his embrace.

"You're welcome, Tricia." Shaka told her. Then, he put her down, and she promptly ran back over to Tria.

"Good luck, Shaka." Tria said to Shaka. "Have fun."

Shaka did a little wave in response. And, with that out of the way, Shaka and the young dinosaurs began looking for the next family to visit.

However, on their way, they were also talking about their visit with Cera's family.

"So, what did you think of my family?" Cera asked.

"Well, your family was very pleasant to meet." Shaka answered. "That is, except for your dad. I mean, Tria and Tricia were both really nice, and quite a pleasure to meet, but your dad...wasn't so pleasant."

Shaka's answer did not surprise Cera. It still upset her, but it wasn't because Shaka's statement offended her, but because it was true.

"That's not a surprise." Cera sighed. "I kinda knew you would say that."

The gang could sense the irritation in Shaka's tone as he continued to speak.

"And Tria told me about how Cera was often more mature than her own father." Shaka continued. Then, he turned to Cera. "Cera, do you think you know what she meant by that?"

Cera was a little surprised by what Shaka said, but then it sunk right in, and she realized just how bad her father's immaturity problem was.

 _29_

"...Actually, "often" just doesn't cut it." Cera responded, shocked by her realization. "Really, now that I think about it, my dad never really was that mature in the first place. Now that I look at it, my dad is pretty much what I was like before I met Littlefoot, except that he didn't change, and even though his body matured, that was about it. It's like he has my old personality inside of the body of a grown up or something like that."

Shaka and the rest of the gang were surprised that Cera, of all dinosaurs, was being THIS critical of her own dad. They would only grow more surprised.

"And probably because of that, he's also not that particularly bright." Cera continued. "He's so stubborn that he often doesn't realize that some of the things that he does are pretty stupid. Mind if I tell you about a few?"

"Well, if it helps me learn a little more about your dad, do it." Shaka replied.

"Right then." Cera affirmed. Then, she began telling them what exactly her father had done that was so stupid. "The first one was a situation where the river feeding into the valley got blocked up, so the valley started drying up, and we had to be careful with using the water, so we decided to take turns using it. Problem was, my dad started taking all of the water for himself, and that nearly made everyone die of thirst, because he wasn't letting anyone else get any water."

Shaka was taken aback by how selfish Cera's father was. But he kept quiet so that Cera could tell her story.

"That wasn't the worst, though." Cera continued. "Not long after, there was a forest fire in the valley. Because the valley was very dry, the fire spread quickly. We already had made some paths as to how to escape the fire before, but my dad thought he could find his own way, kinda like what I did when I was still on my way to the valley. And even though I wanted to go with the others, my dad dragged me with him. Of course, my dad being my dad, he nearly got himself and me killed."

Shaka was both shocked and disgusted by this revelation. How could someone be so stubborn and stupid that they would drag their daughter with them and almost get her killed along with themselves.

"Oh, you have got to be bloody kidding me..." Shaka facepalmed at this revelation.

"I'm not kidding." Cera told him with a sincere tone. "And the only reason why the two of us survived was because Littlefoot's Grandpa came in and saved us."

Shaka just shook his head in shock. Cera really DID have a terrible and immature dad, and he had caused everyone a lot of misery because of his own immaturity and stupidity.

"I just wish your dad got punished for those stunts that he pulled there." Shaka sighed.

"Well, he actually did get punished." Cera told him, her voice sounding a little happier. "At that point, Littlefoot's Grandparents...well, they had been trying to reason with him for a long time, and when they saw that it wasn't working, and that he had almost got his daughter, that is, me, killed, they decided that they had enough of his...dung. So, now, they scolded him like a hatchling and punished him for 3 months by making it so that, while he was serving his punishment, he had to stay at his nest all day, he couldn't attend meetings, and he had to have an escort if he wanted to relieve himself or eat. During that time, I was taking a long break from him by staying with Littlefoot's family. I had long since warmed up to my friends at that point, so I actually enjoyed my time with Littlefoot, and I liked sleeping with him."

Shaka felt better now that he had heard that Cera's father had been punished for his stunts, and that Cera got to stay with some good family figures for her.

"Hopefully, your dad stopped doing things like what he did after his punishment." Shaka assumed.

But the optimism in Cera's voice fell flat, and she did her version of a facepalm.

"Uh, well, here's the problem: he didn't quite stop." Cera responded. "When the punishment was over, he hadn't really learned his lesson, and he was back to his old self almost immediately."

Shaka's optimism died down as well upon hearing this. Oh great. Her dad was at it again.

"Let me guess, he did something stupid again?" Shaka asked, disappointed.

"Yup." Cera answered. Then, she elaborated on it. "It was at a time where the entire herd had to go outside the valley. Like I was when I had to go with Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike for the first time, my dad was complaining the whole time about how he wasn't getting his way, and how the way of Littlefoot's Grandparents was "the wrong way". Eventually, he got into an argument with Littlefoot's Grandfather, which ended with him trying to demand that the herd split up by species, which would have been a VERY bad idea, since it was _in the middle of a desert_. When that happened, my friends and I had to lead the entire herd on a chase just to keep them together AND to stop my dad. Luckily, though, it worked, and the herd ended up not splitting up. Though, this time, Littlefoot's Grandparents didn't punish my dad as hard, they still made him personally apologize to every single member of the herd as the punishment he would get."

Shaka certainly was disappointed that the first punishment didn't work, so Cera's dad did something stupid again, and had to be punished a second time.

"Ugh, your dad never learns from his mistakes, does he?" Shaka remarked.

"No, he doesn't." Cera sighed. "He's done some more stupid things since then, but now, at least Tria can kinda stop him from doing things like that."

"Oh, well, that's a plus." Shaka responded. "It's a good thing that he has someone like Tria to keep him in check."

Cera nodded, but she also had something else to say.

"Now, I still love my dad because, well, he's my dad, and part of my family, whether I like it or not." Cera told Shaka. "But, of course, that doesn't mean I have to LIKE him."

Shaka nodded. Then, he remembered what he had been doing.

 _16_

"Wait a minute, I still have a few more families to visit." Shaka told the young dinosaurs.

"Hey, you're right!" Chomper replied. "You still have about two more families to visit: Ducky's family, and Petrie's family."

"Now, I have to choose." Shaka reminded himself.

Shaka thought about who he would choose to visit for a few seconds. Like Littlefoot and Cera, and the rest of the kid dinos, for that matter, Ducky and Petrie were really nice. However, he remembered that there was the possibility that they had some unpleasant family members. For example, Cera, as nice as she was, had a very unlikable father, and used to be like him. So Shaka had to check with Ducky and Petrie to tell whether or not they had any unpleasant family members or not. Since it looked like both Ducky and Petrie both had single mothers who seemed fairly nice, the one way to encounter any unpleasant family members was if those unpleasant family members were...siblings.

"Hey, Ducky, Petrie," Shaka asked, "do either of you have any siblings?"

Ducky and Petrie both nodded their heads, but Petrie was less eager in nodding his head. Shaka quickly noticed this.

"...Is there something wrong with me asking if you have any siblings, Petrie?"

What Petrie said in reply upset Shaka.

"Well, me have brothers and sisters who pick on Petrie." Petrie sighed. "They mean, annoying, and hard to deal with."

Shaka certainly did not like it that Petrie was bullied by his siblings. This reminded him of a younger foster sister that he once had, Joan. Four years younger than Shaka, and twice that amount less mature, Joan had a serious attitude problem, and was a pain in the rear for Shaka to deal with during the two years that she lived with him while he was in the US (when he was 12-14). Joan would constantly start whining and crying (and by crying, I meant the whiny, annoying kind, not the sympathetic kind) whenever things didn't go her way. Joan was also an ENORMOUS jerk to everyone, even her foster parents, but ESPECIALLY Shaka, whom she attempted to bully to no end. On top of that, Joan believed that she deserved "special treatment" just because she was a girl, and thought boys were inferior to girls. No matter how many times Shaka's parents punished her, Joan never stopped acting like this, and eventually, Shaka and his parents kicked her out of the house when their patience finally ran out, and sent her to live with a different foster family.

"Oh, well, I can certainly understand you not liking your siblings Petrie, because I once had to deal with a particularly obnoxious one for a while." Shaka responded. "I'll tell you about it later, but you could probably relate to it when I do. But right now, if your siblings are hard for you to deal with, I guess I could visit Ducky's family for now. What do you all think of that?"

The young dinosaurs all agreed with that, but Ducky was a little surprised.

"Wait, you want to visit my family?" Ducky said in surprise. Then, it hit her. "Oh, yes yes yes! You can visit my family, you can, you can!"

Spike, who Ducky was riding, mumbled something in agreement.

"Glad you agree." Shaka replied. "Well, now that I've made my choice, just lead the way."

The gang happily obliged, and they began taking Shaka to meet Ducky's family, with Ducky and Spike, of course, leading the way.

Along the way, the little group of 8 began walking upstream alongside a river. Shaka took this as a sign that Ducky's nest was near water, which was to be expected for a swimmer, seeing as how her type of dinosaur seemed to really like water. But who could blame them? Water was a VERY valuable resource, and all living things needed it to survive.

 _30_

Finally, they came upon a group of many little saurolophuses and one large adult saurolophus in a shallow part of the river. This was likely Ducky's family. Just then, Ducky and Spike ran out in front of the others towards the adult, who was apparently her mother.

"Mama! Mama!" Ducky called out. "Shaka's visiting you!"

The adult looked up in surprise, but then noticed the human coming near with Ducky and Spike's other friends. As Shaka came near the section of the river that she and her hatchlings were standing in, Mama Swimmer, as she was commonly known by, did her best to be respectful.

"Good morning, Shaka." the adult swimmer greeted.

"Morning." Shaka greeted back.

"Forgive me for calling you a "thing"." Mama Swimmer apologized. "To be honest, I had no idea exactly what species you were, and I didn't know that me calling you that would offend you. If memory serves me correctly, you're the first "human" I've ever seen."

Shaka was surprised that Mama Swimmer was apologizing for the time yesterday where he called him a "thing". But now that he looked at it, it was hard to blame her, since he was like a complete alien to dinosaurs like her due to his odd physical features.

"I guess I could forgive you for that if you've never seen my kind before." Shaka forgave her. "Truth be told, though, the reason why I took offense to that was because, back in my previous home, I was bullied all the time by other humans my age, and they would call me things like "mongrel" and "half-breed" just because my mother and my father had different skin colors from each other and came from completely different places, and some of the more malicious bullies would call me a "thing" or an "it" because they seemed to refuse to accept me as a fellow human."

Mama Swimmer was a little shocked by the apparent severity of the bullying that Shaka went through.

"Well, that certainly was not a happy time for you." Mama Swimmer remarked. "Perhaps that was why you came to this valley?"

"The main one." Shaka replied. "I mean, there were a few others, but that was the main reason why I came here."

"Then I hope you enjoy living here." Mama Swimmer told him.

"Me too." Shaka responded. "Of course, since nearly every single dinosaur in this valley is a plant eater, they might all be a bit jittery around me, since I am part plant eater, part meat eater. Hopefully, though, they'll calm down once they see that my loyalty is with them. After all, in my mind, unless they do something really, really bad, abandoning or betraying allies is for cowards."

Mama Swimmer nodded in acknowledgement.

At that point, Shaka looked around and saw that Ducky had a LOT of siblings. Some of them appeared to be quite young, as if they had just recently hatched, while some of the other hatchlings appeared to be around Ducky's age. Curious about the number of siblings Ducky had, Shaka decided to ask Mama Swimmer about it.

"Excuse me for asking this question, but, not counting Spike, how many siblings does Ducky have?" Shaka asked. The response from Mama Swimmer was only going to surprise him.

"Well, if you put it that, way, Ducky has 22 siblings." Mama Swimmer answered.

That was such a surprise to Shaka that, to the others, it looked like he was completely and absolutely thunderstruck by shock. As you would expect from such an amusing and comical reaction, the kids and some of Ducky's hatchlings giggled at Shaka's silly expression. Even Mama Swimmer was trying to stifle her laughter.

After the giggling died down, Shaka was finally able to speak again.

"Oh, dear, 22 siblings." Shaka rubbed the sides of his head in realization. "That would certainly be way too much for me to handle. Ms. Swimmer, I seriously have no idea how you're able to handle having so many children, because we humans usually have only 2 to 4 at the most."

"Well, Shaka, we swimmers commonly have a lot of eggs and a lot of children, so we know how to deal with so many." Mama Swimmer replied. "Besides, except for Ducky or Spike, who always go off on adventures with their friends, none of my children really do that much aside from just staying with me, so it's quite easy for me to deal with them."

"Ah, I guess that helps too..." Shaka remarked.

There was a few moments of silence, before one of Ducky's siblings came up to Shaka.

"Hey, Shaka," the young swimmer asked, "just asking, but can you swim?"

"Can I swim?" Shaka responded in kind. "Well, yes, I can. But why do I need to when I can just walk across the surface instead?"

All of the young swimmers, as well as the gang and Mama Swimmer, stared at him for a few seconds before some of them began laughing at the absurdity of Shaka's claim.

"Walk ON the _water_?" Petrie laughed. "Me usually believe everything, but that really silly!"

"You're funny, Shaka, you are, you are!" Ducky giggled, completely missing the point. "You cannot walk on the water, nope nope nope!"

Shaka rolled his eyes at all of them. He knew that this would happen at some point.

"Okay then, if you don't want to believe my word..." Shaka replied, "then I guess I'll just have to show that I can indeed do it...right in front of you."

Without another moment's hesitation, Shaka, using a certain skillful form of water manipulation, an ability that waterbenders had, began casually walking across the surface of the water to the other side. He could hear the laughter turning into gasps, but he took no notice. Once he reached the other side, then he turned around and walked back to the side of the water that he had started at.

Once he was back on the side of the water he had started at, he looked at everyone else's shocked expressions. Now, it was them who looked thunderstruck by shock. And now it was his turn to laugh at them.

"You should have seen your faces!" Shaka chuckled. "I bloody told you all that I could walk on water!"

The reactions of everyone were funny enough, but Cera's was the best one. One piece of her father' influence that Cera did keep was that she was still close-minded, and always something of a skeptic when it came to absurd claims. Most of the time, she was right, but on the occasions where the claims were actually true, like this one, she would have quite the amusing reaction. But this time, it was on another level.

"Okay, I think I'm gonna go find some sweet bubbles." Cera told them all, still quite shocked at seeing someone actually being able to _walk on water_. "Be right back."

At that, Cera ran over to a bush of grapes and began eating as many of them as she could, with Shaka laughing REALLY hard now after seeing her reaction. That was because what she said reminded him of how some adult humans would often ask for a drink after seeing something particularly absurd or crazy. And since what they drank was often made out of grapes, to Shaka, Cera was basically saying "I need a freaking drink!", and that was what made it so funny.

It took a minute for Shaka to stop laughing, but still, to him, that was a brilliant scene to watch.

"Sorry about that, but that was the humor I needed." Shaka said to the others. "Seriously."

Just a few seconds later, Cera came back, having calmed down a little bit.

"Okay, Shaka, let me get this straight, you can walk on water?" Cera asked.

"Yes, I can." Shaka answered. "Your eyes cannot lie to you. Yes, you saw that right, I WAS walking on the water."

"...Alright then." Cera responded. "Sorry, but I REALLY didn't see that coming."

"Well, everyone has those moments." Shaka replied.

A few more moments of silence followed, before Shaka went up to Mama Swimmer.

"I know that this sounds rather random," Shaka began, "but are Ducky and Spike harder to take care of than your other children at times?"

"Of course, all children are hard to take care of at some point," Mama Swimmer answered, "but yes, Ducky and Spike are harder to take care of than my other children, kindhearted as they may be. They're almost always off on an adventure with their friends, and their adventures sometimes lead them outside the valley, which is not a safe place for them at all, and it makes me worry."

"Well, I do have a solution to that." Shaka offered.

"And what is that?" the adult swimmer asked.

"Well...you could just have me watch them." Shaka told her. "I'm 15 years old, and in my kind, at that age, you start to be seen as a young adult, rather than a child, and that's when you start to assume adult responsibilities. Furthermore, you've seen my bending, and how any hostile sharpteeth would be...ineffective in trying to attack the kids while I'm around. And don't worry, I'm not that "Leeroy Jenkins" kind of guy that rushes ahead without orders, caution, or being properly prepared, and the reason why I sound so confident at fighting off sharpteeth is because I really am that good at taking them on. And besides, I understand how Ducky and Spike like adventure, because I am that kind of guy as well, so I think that I'll do a pretty good job."

Mama Swimmer thought it over for a few seconds before she gave her answer.

"Very well, then, Shaka, if that is all true about you, then I will trust you with watching Ducky and Spike." Mama Swimmer accepted Shaka's order. "Just one condition, though."

"And what is that?" Shaka raised an eyebrow.

"Make sure you keep them safe." Mama Swimmer answered.

"Don't worry, I will keep them safe." Shaka told her. "Of course, I am not perfect, so I certainly will make a few mistakes here and there, but then again, no one is absolutely perfect."

Mama Swimmer nodded. Then, Shaka remembered that he still had one more family to visit.

"Anyways, it was nice knowing you, Ms. Swimmer." Shaka said to the mother dinosaur. "Right now, I have things that I need to do, since this is only my second day here in the valley. Have a nice day."

"You too, Shaka." Mama Swimmer replied.

At that, Shaka motioned the young dinosaurs to come with him, and they left, and began looking for their last family to visit.

 _31_

Of course, they were talking AGAIN on the way to their last family, but this time, it was the young dinosaurs asking Shaka about this "Leeroy Jenkins" that he was talking about.

"So, Shaka," Littlefoot asked, "when you told Mama Swimmer about "Leeroy Jenkins", what were you talking about?"

"Oh, well, in my kind, that's a saying for someone who's very brave, very stupid, or very impatient, and then rushes ahead without a plan, without orders, without caution, and, often, without being prepared." Shaka explained. "I think we all know a certain adult male threehorn who fits that description, do we?"

The little gang of dinosaurs almost immediately understood what and who Shaka was talking about.

"You're talking about my dad." Cera pointed out, correctly guessing who Shaka was speaking of. "You're right, of course. My dad _is_ a "Leeroy Jenkins". Seriously, trying to find his "own" way through a fire and dragging me with him was not a good idea. Neither was trying to split up the herd in the middle of a desert."

Shaka shrugged at the mention of how stupid Cera's father was. Some people were just stupid, and he couldn't do much about it. But then Cera mentioned a time when she had a few moments where her overconfidence got her in huge trouble.

"Though, admittedly, before I got to the valley, I was a "Leeroy Jenkins" too." Cera admitted. "There was the time when I tried to ram Sharptooth's head just because I thought he was dead, and then he turned out...not to be dead. And then there was the time where I thought I could lead better than Littlefoot, and ended up almost getting myself and everyone else killed. I mean, I already told about those to you earlier, but I always make sure to remember my mistakes so that I don't make the same ones again."

Shaka nodded at Cera admitting to being a Leeroy Jenkins before she came to the valley, and silently approved of Cera's strategy to avoid becoming that again.

"Anyways," Shaka began, mentioning what they were originally doing, "I think we've got one more family to visit. Let's see, I've visited Littlefoot's family, Cera's family, and Ducky's family. So, that leaves Petrie's family."

The young dinosaurs understood, but Petrie, as to be expected, wasn't so thrilled.

"Yeah, me know." Petrie responded, unhappy that he had to deal with his siblings again. "Now me have to get picked on again by brothers and sisters."

Luckily, Shaka was not going to let that happen.

"Do you really think I would just let your siblings pick on you while I'm getting to know your family?" Shaka assured him. "I'll just make their ears bleed if they try to."

The way that the last part was worded was met with stares from the young dinosaurs. But Shaka then explained it to them.

"What that means is that I'm going to call them out on it." Shaka clarified. "It's just a term I use for when I get on someone's case, HARD. Usually for doing something stupid, cruel, mean, you name it."

The young dinosaurs then had agreeing looks on their faces at the clarification. They knew that it would be bad to actually make someone's ears bleed, and they were relieved that it was just a term Shaka used for getting on someone's case.

"So, are you kids all ready?" Shaka asked the young dinosaurs.

The young dinosaurs nodded.

"Alright then, let's go!" Shaka told them.

At that, Shaka and the young dinosaurs set off again, with Petrie leading them.

Since flyers, which was the dinosaurs' name for pterosaurs, really did act like birds back in his home world, despite being able to talk, Shaka was looking up at and around the trees, as he knew that flyers would likely be resting there, and because Petrie's family would likely be in one of them. His guess was proven correct, though not in the most pleasant way, when, as Shaka and the dinosaur gang walked by one particular tree, they heard a wall of insults hurled at them, though mostly aimed at Shaka and Petrie.

"Petrie, why did you let that thing in?"

"What is that, anyways?"

"Yeah, what is that thing?"

"I hope it's not a sharptooth or something!"

Shaka looked to his left and saw a good sized group of little flyers about Petrie's size and age, possibly the siblings he was talking about, who were hurling the insults. Since he was annoyed by what they were saying about him, though, it was a glare, which, fortunately enough, shut them up.

Just then, though, a light blue adult flyer flew in and landed on a nearby branch, not happy with the behavior of the little flyers. The adult was obviously Petrie's mother, as, earlier, Petrie had explained to Shaka that this was what his mother, who was commonly known as "Mama Flyer" by the other dinosaur kids, looked like.

 _29_

"Tell me, my children, what were you just doing?" Mama Flyer demanded of the flyer hatchlings, dissapointed with their behavior.

"Oh uh, we were just asking Petrie why he brought that thing in!" The apparent ringleader of the flyer hatchlings hastily defended himself. "What if it's a sharptooth?"

Mama Flyer looked in the direction that the little flyer was pointing in, but upon noticing he was pointing at an unamused Shaka, she turned back around and gave her son a disapproving look.

"Now then, children, listen here." Mama Flyer told her hatchlings. Then, she gave them a short lecture. "That is not a sharptooth, and you certainly shouldn't be calling him a "thing", as calling him either of those things angers him. That is a creature called a "human", and is name is Shaka. Also, didn't I tell all of you to treat your brother better?"

"Yeah, yeah, you told us that he's our brother, we're lucky to have him, blah blah blah." One of the other hatchlings sassed his mother in defiance, and the other hatchlings agreed with him. Unfortunately for them, this did not go down well with their mother.

"Well, then, if you want to talk that way about him..." Mama Flyer now had enough of the nonsense from the hatchlings. "...then all of you are grounded to the nest for the rest of the day, and tonight, Petrie's getting sweet bubbles instead of all of you."

As expected, the hatchlings tried to disagree with this.

"But mama!" one of the hatchlings protested. "Petrie's too different! He should be grounded to the nest all day, not us!"

"No, I am not doing that." Mama Flyer told him bluntly. "Unlike all of you do now, Petrie doesn't act naughty. He's actually respectful, and he actually listens to me. And, after all, all of you were pretty much asking to get grounded. Now then, get to the nest. All of you."

The troublesome flyer hatchlings finally gave in and started flying back to wherever their nest was. Once they were out of sight, Mama Flyer then turned to Shaka and the young dinosaurs he was with.

"I'm sorry for all of that trouble, Shaka," Mama Flyer apologized, "it's just that, in case you were wondering, I am Petrie's mother, and he has a lot of brothers and sisters that are out of control, like what you saw there."

"Yeah, they're REAL mature." Shaka snarked at the immaturity of Petrie's siblings. "And I thought that having to deal with ONE bratty sibling was enough."

Mama Swimmer shrugged at this. Then, she flew over to where Shaka and the young dinosaurs were, and turned to a worried-looking Petrie, who Shaka was holding. She was able to calm him down by telling him who was grounded and who wasn't.

"Don't worry, Petrie, you're not grounded at all." Mama Flyer reassured him. "I only grounded your brothers and sisters. I'm sorry that you have to put up with them every single day, just because you're just a little different."

Petrie visibly calmed down at this, and he was glad that his mother wasn't going to ground him. Even then, he was also a little sad when he heard his mother say that it was because he was different that he got bullied all the time.

Shaka, on the other hand, was now curious as to how Petrie was different.

"So...how is Petrie different, though?" Shaka asked. "I mean, the way he speaks is an obvious one, but how else?"

"Well," Petrie's mother began, "Petrie...is certainly a very interesting character. He has a very entertaining imagination, according to his friends, and he can be very smart when he wants to, although he doesn't show it that often. Also, in the past, he has told me that he's uncomfortable with being around other flyers, but that may be just because of his siblings, since I've seen that he gets along very well with other kinds of dinosaurs, even though sometimes he can seem a little insensitive to some. His voice is in such a way so that he does sound older than he really is, though, as you may already notice, he talks in a broken manner, so sometimes, he's hard to understand. And that is why Petrie's "different", well, that's what his siblings say, anyways."

 _32_

Shaka was very surprised when he heard all of this. Not because of the fact that Petrie was different, but because of the way that Petrie was different from other flyers. In fact, it actually reminded him of...himself.

"Hey, wait a minute," Shaka realized, "the way that Petrie's different from other flyers is pretty close to the way that I'm different from other humans." Then, he looked at Mama Flyer directly. "Want me to explain?"

"Go ahead." Mama Flyer told him.

"Alright then." Shaka affirmed. Then, he began explaining it to her. "Just like Petrie, I had, and still have, a very vivid imagination, and even though I may sometimes appear to be the guy who rushes into battle without thinking, also like Petrie, I am actually very smart, but I also show it more often than Petrie does."

Mama Swimmer listened with interest as Shaka went on explaining his similarities to Petrie.

"Now, I found it...hard to interact with other humans back at my old home." Shaka continued. "See how I've been talking to you for so long? Yeah, with humans, I would've only been able to do this with my mother or father. Thing is, as brave and as bold as I may seem now, I actually was very shy back where I used to live with other humans, and because of that, I was almost always by myself, as I was also terrible at interacting with other humans. But so far, it looks like I get along just fine with...dinosaurs though, except for Cera's father, of course, but then again, you know him."

Mama Flyer nodded at Shaka's acknowledgement of being terrible at interacting with his friends, and, of course, at the mention of Cera's Father.

"And, as much as my voice may sound somewhat normal, it also makes me sound older than I am." Shaka began wrapping up his explanation. "Also, though, I should mention that the way humans start talking is different from the way that dinosaurs apparently start talking, the latter according to these kids. According to them, since, I guess, it's instincts, dinosaurs can start talking from a very young age. But it's different with us humans, since, while dinosaurs can probably start talking on their own because of those instincts, we humans...cannot start talking on our own. You see, that is because, long ago, there was a time where humans couldn't talk at all, and the only reason why any of us started talking was because we learned how to do it, and because of that, even today, human babies still have to learn how to talk. Now, the reason why I brought that up is because...I have a minor case of something that we humans call "Autism". Now, Autism is not a disease, an illness, or really a disorder...it's just something that I have that makes me different. Thing is, Autism, even if it's a minor case, still changes quite a few things about me. You know those things about me that I explained to you earlier, like my imagination, being able to be really smart, and being terrible at interacting with other humans? Yeah, the fact that I have Autism has something to do with that." Shaka stopped for a few seconds to catch his breath before continuing again. "However, Autism has also changed my ability to speak. Now, I do seem to be talking normally right now, but remember how I told you that humans have to learn how to talk? Well, while most humans start learning how to talk when they're 2-3 years old, with me, I didn't really start talking until I was 4-5, and that was almost as old as Petrie is right now! And partially because of that, I have to choose my words carefully, because something that has happened a little too much in the past is that I've said something meaning one thing, but to someone else, it means another thing, sometimes an insult. Sorry if that was a little long, but that's my explanation for you."

Mama Flyer was quite impressed with how well Shaka was able to explain himself. Even though it took a long time, Mama Flyer tolerated this, since there were some who took a lot of words to get things out.

"Well, quite an interesting explanation, Shaka." Mama Flyer remarked. "And it is interesting that you have that difference."

Shaka nodded at this. A short silence followed, and then Shaka decided to ask Mama Flyer about something.

 _33_

"Hey, Ms. Flyer," Shaka began, "can I ask you something?"

"Go on."

"You know how Petrie gets picked on by his siblings, right?"

"Yes, I do. Shame that it happens to him all the time."

"Well, I think that I found the solution to that. And that is, what if I was a babysitter for him so that so that he wouldn't have to deal with his siblings so much?"

Mama Flyer was caught off guard by Shaka's suggestion. She was not expecting Shaka to make a suggestion like that, since he did look and sound young, likely mid-teens.

"Oh...I don't know." Mama Flyer responded, a little surprised. Then, she decided to ask Shaka an important question. "Shaka, are you SURE that you want to babysit Petrie?"

"Yes, I am." Shaka replied.

"Well, I don't know if someone else has told you this already, but Petrie and his friends tend to get themselves in danger a lot, and they're quite hard for even us to watch." Mama Flyer warned.

"For YOU, anyways." Shaka remarked. "Frankly, I actually understand the mindset of these kids, that is, curious, adventurous, and full of energy, as I am pretty much just a slightly subdued version of that. I don't think that I'll have too much of an issue watching them."

"Alright then." Mama Flyer told him. "Just don't complain if you find yourself a mess by the end of the day."

Shaka rolled his eyes at that. But now, it was time to get moving.

"Well, Ms Flyer, it was nice getting to know you, and it was pretty neat finding out how similar I am to Petrie, but it's about time for me to get on with my day." Shaka said goodbye to Mama Flyer. "May yours be a good one...well, as good as possible when dealing with 12 naughty little flyers back at the nest."

"You too, Shaka." Mama Flyer responded. "And I'll do my best to deal with Petrie's siblings, thank you very much."

Shaka nodded, and Mama Flyer took off, apparently towards her nest.

With that, and having visited all 4 families, Shaka and the young dinosaurs left the area.

Shortly afterwards, the young dinosaurs decided to ask him about what he thought of the families that he had visited.

"So, what do you think of our families, Shaka?" Littlefoot asked.

"Oh, it varies, depending on the family." Shaka answered. "Littlefoot, I could tell that your grandparents meant well, but they seemed to be a little too protective of you. Cera, your stepmother and half-sister were a lot of fun to get to know, but your father kinda ruined it. Ducky, your mother and your sisters were nice knowing, and I certainly had a lot of fun teasing them like that by walking ON the water. And Petrie, even though your siblings were insufferable, your mother was also nice knowing."

The reactions of the little gang of dinosaurs varied from individual to individual. Littlefoot shrugged a bit at the fact that his grandparents were overprotective, Cera sighed when she heard Shaka say that her father somewhat ruined his visit with her family, Ducky nodded vigorously and jumped a little at the fact that Shaka thought well of her family, and Petrie gave a slight nod of approval when Shaka said that his mother made up for the visit with his family.

Seeing as how they all respected his feedback, Shaka began thinking of something to do with the dinosaur children. He could play a game with them, and that was good and all, or he could teach them more about himself and humans as a hole, and that was also good. But then, he remembered something that he knew should take precedence over those things: a place in the valley to live and sleep. Problem was, at the moment, Shaka had no place of his own in the valley to live and sleep at, and that was something that was very important for him to find.

"Hey, kids, I've got a problem." Shaka told the young dinosaur gang with a tone of concern. "I...don't have a place of my own in this valley to live or sleep at. I mean, I didn't have a problem with sleeping at Littlefoot's nest, but it doesn't beat having a place of my own to sleep at. So, perhaps you could help me find a place to sleep?"

The faces of the young dinosaurs were filled with realization when they remembered that Shaka didn't have a place of his own in the valley.

"You're right, you still don't have your own nest, nope nope nope." Ducky replied. "We can help you find a place to make one, we can, we can."

"Well, that's good." Shaka responded. "At least I'll have some help doing it. In that case, show me a place where I could make a "nest", as you call it."

"Okay then, come on, we'll show you!" Chomper told him.

And with that, the little gang of dinosaurs began showing Shaka around the valley once more, helping him to pick a place to make his own "nest".

* * *

 **Sorry for taking so long to update this story, but this was a HUGE chapter, and it took me a few weeks to write it. Of course, I will be explaining some of the things that you might notice here that might look a little out of place in a TLBT fanfic.**

 **I know, it seems very odd and out of place for Shaka to get angry at Littlefoot's Grandparents, since the latter are kind, wise, and well respected throughout the valley, and because Shaka, in case you didn't know, almost always respects the elderly. But one trait about Shaka that I'm going to be introducing here is that he REALLY likes children. Now, he does like human children, of course (if they are younger than him, that is), but he's already finding that he ESPECIALLY likes dinosaur children. And Shaka likes children so much, in fact, that if their parents are abusive, are overprotective, or screw up in caring for their children, he WILL call them out on it. In this case, he called out Littlefoot's Grandparents for not explaining to Littlefoot and his friends why they shouldn't go near the sheltering grass, because, as he says, "Poor Communication KILLS", and because of that, Littlefoot and his friends fell into the quicksand and almost died.**

 **Also, Cera talking trash about her dad (!) may seem VERY out of character for her, as, in the canon TLBT movies, Cera almost always agrees with her dad. But in this fanfic, when Cera learned the error of her own ways, she also began to see the error of her father's ways as well. Similarly, in a case where reality ensues, Cera also has a very unfavorable opinion of him after what he did when the valley caught on fire, and when the herd was trying to find food after locusts gobbled up all of the valley's vegetation. Because of this, when her father isn't around, Cera is perfectly will to discuss his flaws with anyone if they want to know about them. And also because of this, whenever Cera needs wisdom, she goes to either Tria or Littlefoot's Grandparents. Now, as she actually says in this chapter, Cera still loves her father because he's her father, and a part of the family, but that doesn't mean that she LIKES him.**

 **Shaka walking on the water's surface may initially seem like a sue-like trait, since that is one ability that sues may have, but actually, in the version of Earth that Shaka came from, this ability is a well known high-skill waterbending ability that takes a LOT of practice to pull off. And the reason why Shaka is able to do that is because he has been practicing bending since he was very young, taking to it like a duck to the water, and he is very skilled with, and has actually mastered, all 4 elements, water included, as a result. Now, in this story, Shaka STILL learns some new moves, and actually makes a few of his own, just to keep this trait of his from becoming sue-like.**

 **Yep, I'm making it official: Shaka has Autism, even if it doesn't look like it. I know that it sounds a little odd that he has it, but that's because I'm basing his case of Autism off of my own. The thing is, Shaka is very smart, and, if given the chance, he is a great leader, but his flaw is that he isn't that good at interacting with other humans, although he's very good at interacting with dinosaurs, as it soon becomes apparent. How Autism also affects Shaka's personality is that even though he's usually a nice guy, he has blood as hot as lava (well, early on, anyways), and he is also fairly easy to set off or offend, and he also requires solid proof before he believes something, so he is not very easy to fool.**

 **Hopefully, that will do for explaining things, and as usual, be fair with your judgement in your reviews.**

* * *

 **Soundtrack:**

26\. Gandhi (Peace) - Civilization 5 (PC)

27\. Gandhi (War) - Civilization 5 (PC)

28\. Boudicca (Peace) - Civilization 5 (PC)

29\. Devil's Harp - Medieval 2: Total War (PC)

30\. Maria I (Peace) - Civilization 5 (PC)

31\. Grey Meadows - Medieval 2: Total War (PC)

32\. But Chrom, It's Nearly Dark! - Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS)

33\. Sejong (Peace) - Civilization 5 (PC)


	11. 1-1-11: The Search For A House Site

_33 (continued)_

Now, Shaka and the young dinosaurs were looking for a good place for Shaka to build his home. Littlefoot and his friends initially thought that it wasn't going to take very long for Shaka to choose a spot for a "nest", because the Great Valley was very large, and had a lot of room. But as they were looking for a place for Shaka to make his home, Shaka became surprisingly nit-picky, and the search took longer than expected.

But then, their search took them to a meadow that was of a higher elevation in the valley that had a patch of strange looking plants with white stuff on them. The young dinosaurs knew about these plants: they tasted horrible, and they weren't really edible, anyways. Besides, these plants could prick you if you touched them, and there was the fact that they didn't look very interesting at all. Because of all of this, the young dinosaurs stayed away from these plants.

 _34_

But Shaka seemed to think differently of these plants. When he laid eyes upon the plants, he gained a curious look on his face, and he began walking towards them. The young dinosaurs almost immediately noticed what Shaka was doing, and they were quite confused as to why he was doing that.

"Umm, Shaka, why are you going towards those plants?" Ruby asked.

"I want to see what kind of plants they are." Shaka answered. "They look awfully familiar to a plant back in my old home that is very important to us humans."

"Well, they're not very important to us." Cera told him. "They look boring, we can't really eat them because they taste so bad that we can't eat them, and they could hurt if you touch them, so they're useless to us."

"To you, anyways." Shaka snarked at her, and continued going towards the plants, much to the surprise of the young dinosaurs.

As Shaka got closer to the plants, they started looking more and more like a certain very important crop. Once he got to the patch, he knelt down and examined the plants. While examining one of the plants, Shaka noticed what looked like a bulb on the plant. When he squeezed it, out came something that he wouldn't have ever expected in a world of dinosaurs.

Out came a white ball of what looked like some sort of fabric with seeds in it. Shaka knew exactly what it was.

"Cotton." Shaka said to himself loudly. Then, he shouted it. "Cotton!"

The young dinosaurs were initially confused as to why Shaka was excited.

"Cotton?" Littlefoot repeated Shaka's words in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Here, let me show you." Shaka told him.

So Shaka turned around and came towards them, the ball of cotton in his hand. Then, he showed them the ball of cotton.

"This is what I mean by "cotton'." Shaka explained. "It may not look like much to you dinosaurs, but it is VERY important to us humans, because we use it for making our "clothes"."

The dinosaurs now understood what he meant. Earlier today, Shaka had explained to them what "clothes' were, and that humans wore them because it was considered very impolite, even anti-social, to not wear them, and also because, without clothes, humans wouldn't be able to survive outside of a very small area on their home world.

"Okay, that make sense now." Petrie responded. But then he noticed a problem. "But that only one little piece. How you gonna make "clothes" with vat piece?"

"Oh, I don't use just one little piece." Shaka chuckled. "We have to use a lot of cotton to make clothes. Trust me, a lot of cotton."

Then, Shaka looked back at the various cotton plants. "Anyways, I think I just found the area for my "nest", as you kids call it." But that was when he realized something. "Although, I haven't a single idea why COTTON exists in a land of DINOSAURS, Two different organisms who should be many, many, many years apart."

"I guess we'll never know, nope nope nope." Ducky remarked.

Shaka just shrugged his shoulders. But then, he turned back to the task at hand.

"Now, let's get my home set up." Shaka said to no one in particular.

 _35_

That was when the awesome began. To start, Shaka did some VERY skillful manipulation of the ground, splitting up the patch of cotton plants into two, with the gap widest at the center, and the ground in-between being slightly higher. Then, Shaka bent the ground so that there was a small stone wall around each side of the the now-divided cotton patch. And that was when he started making his house in the center of that divide.

For his house, Shaka based the design off of a log cabin (an "Earth Cabin", if you will, since it was made pretty much entirely out of, well, earth). It was a single room, single floor kind of cabin, though it was way larger than normal for that type of cabin, with the interior of the cabin being 25 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 15 feet high, and this was because of how abundant the material he was making the cabin from, Earth, was. To go along with this, his "doorway", which did not have a door yet, was 10 feet high and 6 feet wide.

The young dinosaurs watched with wonder as their new human friend made what was apparently his "nest". It looked very large for a nest, but while he was making it, Shaka had told them that humans often had a lot of stuff with them that they needed to store. He also told them that the reason why the "nest" was covered at the top was because humans were much more vulnerable to the weather than dinosaurs were, and wouldn't last long out in the rain.

Finally, after about half an hour, Shaka was done with his house. It looked large and imposing, but to Shaka, it was just his new house, and that was what mattered. But when he tried going inside it, there was one problem.

Darkness.

There wasn't enough lighting in the house. It made him realize that he needed windows. Luckily, Shaka was quickly able to put some makeshift windows in his house simply by making circular holes in the walls of his new house. He made 5 windows in the "wide" walls (the wall with the door, and the back wall), and 6 in the "long walls" (the other two walls). When he was done, he now had plenty of light in his house, and he was content with that.

Now, he turned around to the young dinosaurs.

"Would you kids like to come in?" Shaka asked them.

The young dinosaurs didn't need to say anything to answer, for almost immediately after Shaka asked them this, they came up to him, and followed him into the house. They were almost immediately impressed by the roomy interior of Shaka's "nest". Once they were inside, though, they suddenly found that they were quite tired, likely after walking around all morning introducing Shaka to their families. Shaka, who was busy setting up the interior of his new home, quickly noticed this.

"You kids tired?" Shaka asked the kids offhandedly while working on the interior.

"Yes, we are tired, tired we are." Ruby answered.

"Well, it's not like you can't sit down in here." Shaka pointed out.

The young dinosaurs promptly sat down upon hearing this, and began to let their energy come back to them, while they watched Shaka work on the interior of his "nest". Shaka set up the stone versions of common furniture for practical use, like a stone table for on which he turned the cotton into what would be his clothes, and the stone version of a couch, which, although hard, worked for him whenever he needed to rest. When he explained to the young dinosaurs what the functions of the furniture were, they promptly got on the stone couch.

After a few minutes of work, Shaka was finally done setting up the interior of his house. But now, he was tired.

"I really need to sit down." Shaka said out loud to no one in particular.

When he went to sit down on the "couch", he noticed that the young dinosaurs were on it already, leaving no room for him, much to his chagrin. So he picked up Cera and sat down where she had been laying.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Cera squeaked in surprise, initially thinking that Shaka was going to make her sit on the ground again. But when Shaka, still holding her, just sat down where she had been laying down, with her still in his arms, she calmed down. "Um, okay then."

"Don't worry, Cera, I'm just trying to find a place to sit." Shaka reassured her.

Cera definitely calmed down when she heard this. She was glad that Shaka was only wanting a place to sit down, but not wanting to kick her off just for that seat.

Shaka and the young dinosaurs sat there for a few more minutes in silence while they rested. Then, Shaka was about to talk to the young dinosaurs again, but he noticed that all of them except for Cera, who was in his arms still, were asleep. He could tell that they were exhausted from walking around all morning. So, he decided to talk to just Cera, and it was about the fathers of, and the father figures for, her and her friends.

 _23_

"Hey, Cera," Shaka began, "I...noticed something when I was visiting the families of you and your friends."

"What did you notice?" Cera asked, concerned.

"Well..." Shaka answered with a worried look on his face, "...I...uh, of all of the families I visited, the only father I saw was yours, Cera. I mean, I know that Chomper and Ruby got separated from their fathers and the rest of their families by Red Claw, because you kids told me that earlier, but what about the other fathers?"

He then maneuvered Cera in his arms so that her face was right in front of his. Cera could now see his nervous expression.

"Is there...a story behind that?"

Cera gritted her teeth before she told him the truth.

"Yeah...there's a story behind it, a few stories, to be exact." Cera replied. "Of course, seeing who you are, might as well get to it."

So Shaka set Cera down in his lap, though in a way so that he was still holding her, and she began telling him what happened to the fathers of her friends. First, she started with Littlefoot's father.

"To start this off, I'll tell you about Littlefoot's father." Cera began. "For a while...we thought that Littlefoot's father was dead, which, sadly enough, is a rather common thing with us dinosaurs. Thing is, if you see a family in this valley, and you just see the mother and the hatchlings, that usually means that the father is dead. And, like I said, for a while, we thought that this was the case with Littlefoot's father. But then, a few months back, and a month before Chomper and Ruby started living here in the valley, Littlefoot and his Grandparents had to go on a journey that all of the longnecks were going on. When they got to where they were going to, Littlefoot's Grandparents introduced him to an adult longneck named "Bron" who had the same skin color as Littlefoot, just with green eyes instead of Littlefoot's red. That's when Littlefoot's Grandparents told him something that none of us saw coming. They told him that Bron was his father. I know, I know, it was shocking, to say the least. In fact, when Littlefoot first found this out, Bron had to do some explaining to him as to why he wasn't present for the first 6 years of his life. Bron said that he had gone to find a good place to raise Littlefoot, and that when he tried to find Littlefoot's mother again, he couldn't find her. To me though, I just think that Bron got lost, something that he likely doesn't want to admit. Anyways, though, soon after, Ducky, Petrie, Spike, and I had followed Littlefoot and his Grandparents all the way to the place that they were at, because we were worried about him, and we didn't want him to die while we weren't around. When we got there, we were also surprised by Littlefoot having a father. That, though, was when Littlefoot had to make a choice, because Bron is the leader of a wandering herd, and for some reason, he doesn't think that his herd can live in the Great Valley. So Littlefoot had to choose between going with his father and staying with us. He eventually chose to stay with us, though, and to make it easier, Bron promised to visit this valley once a year. Now, we just have to see if he keeps it or not."

Shaka was quite surprised that Cera could tell him so much. He, too, was surprised by the fact that Littlefoot had a living father, since he had initially thought that Littlefoot's father was dead as well. Bron was indeed an interesting case as well, since it reminded him of the type of father in his own kind that was in the military, and couldn't really be with his children.

"Next, though," Cera continued, "I'm going to tell you about Ducky's father and Petrie's father. Now, the case with these two is, well, much different than Littlefoot's father. How is it different? Well, I hate to be blunt, but it's because Ducky's father and Petrie's father are dead."

"How did they die?" Shaka asked.

"Well, both of them died in...unpleasant ways." Cera answered. "First, there's Ducky's father. His death happened on that time that we had to be outside the valley for a few weeks, you know, the same time that my dad tried splitting up the herd. So what happened was, it was just after we had gotten my dad to give up on the idea of splitting the herd. To use your words for things, we were at a "coast" that was a ways away from the Great Valley, and the area of the "coast" we were at actually had a lot of plants and a lot of water that we could drink. It had been a few days since Ducky's father had eaten anything, so when he found a berry bush, he at all of the berries in it. But the berries were black or green instead of red, and that told me that something really bad was going to happen. Sure enough, it happened. Turns out, that kind of berry was one of the most dangerous kinds to eat around, and not long after, Ducky's father got really, really bad sick, and he died. Ducky got hit hard by his death, and she tended to cry a lot for a while before she sorta got over her father's death. It was just as rough on her as the death of Littlefoot's mother was on Littlefoot. And the thing is, even today, Ducky doesn't like to talk about it at all, so you're only really gonna know what happened to her father if you talk to me or one of our friends."

Shaka was more than a little shocked when he heard all of what Cera told him. Ducky's father must have eaten a bush that was full of very poisonous berries, and if so, then he went out in a slow, painful way. And the fact that Ducky witnessed the whole thing and watched her father die right in front of her really hurt. Poor girl.

But then, Shaka noticed that Cera was going to speak again, so he let her.

"Then, there's Petrie's father." Cera continued. "Like with Ducky's father, Petrie's father died right in front of Petrie. His death happened during the Great Earthquake that Littlefoot and I had experienced. The Earthquake had caused Petrie's family to flee their temporary nest that they had made in the dry land. In the panic, Petrie, not being able to fly at the time, was stranded on the ground, left behind by his family. And that was when it happened. As Petrie's father was fleeing with the rest of the family, he got hit mid-air by flying rocks, and hit into a huge crack in the ground formed by the Earthquake, where he either fell to his death, got crushed, or both. Now, before you ask how it affected Petrie...well, let's just say that he wouldn't have been as nervous as he is now if his father was still around. I guess his father allowed him to be calmer, braver, and more confident in himself, and now, without his father, Petrie's the way he is today."

Shaka was similarly more than a little disturbed at all of this. Petrie had also lost his father right in front of him, and it had made him the nervous wreck he was today. To be fair, Shaka knew that he would likely also be like that, had he lost his father, Rudolf, right in front of him.

"Anyways, those are the deaths of Ducky's father and Petrie's father for you." Cera finished up. "Hopefully you found out what you wanted about them."

"So Littlefoot's not the only one of you kids to have a parent die right in front of him." Shaka remarked, shaking his head. "My, you kids can't catch a break, can you?"

"Well, not much of one, anyways." Cera sadly responded.

Silence reigned in the house for a few seconds.

 _35_

But that was when Shaka had an idea. An idea of how to fix the problem of these kids not having a single good father or father figure around here in this valley.

"Hey, Cera," Shaka began, "I think I know how to help you and you friends with this situation."

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Cera asked.

"Well, it's simple: what if I raised you kids?" Shaka offered.

Cera was caught off guard major league when she heard this from Shaka. Shaka was this willing to help her?

"Wait, you already want to do that for us?" Cera blinked her eyes at what Shaka said. "But this is only the second day you've known us!"

"I know, I know, I'm aware." Shaka responded. "You see, it's because you kids need it more than anything. Among my kind back in my home world, it's common knowledge that if you're young and you don't have a good father, or if you have no father around at all, then that is going to lead to some serious problems growing up. And those are problems that no one should want to happen with anyone."

Then, he looked directly at her. "And I'll admit, another reason why I want to do that is because, for some reason, I already see you kids as younger brothers and sisters. Maybe, Cera, it's because you, Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike put up such a terrific fight against me when I fought you when we first met, because I doubt that anyone else will ever be able to do so well against me. Or maybe it's because of the similarities that you kids share with me. Either way, though, I...I now see you kids as family, and I will treat you as such. And trust me, I really do love my family."

Now, upon hearing this, Cera felt a little shy, but also thankful for having someone who was this willing to take care of her.

"Gee...thanks, Shaka." Cera blushed.

Shaka then lifted her up to his chest so that she was almost at his eye level. Then, he held her close, and the two of them hugged each other.

As Cera embraced him with her forearms around his neck, Shaka did a mental summary of what his current situation was.

"I left my old home world to find a new one that would suit my needs." Shaka pondered in his head the events over the past week or so. "I...certainly did not expect to come to world of talking dinosaurs and wandering raptors and rexes."

But as he looked at Cera, as well as the other young dinosaurs, he thought about the positives of his new world.

"However, with the exception of Cera's VERY unpleasant and arrogant father and Petrie's goddamned bats for siblings, these talking dinosaur inhabitants, especially these kids here with me in this new house of mine, are, for the most part, friendly and welcoming." Shaka continued in his thoughts. "And besides, I have all the supplies I need for now, as well as the aforementioned house, so...I guess it's not so bad for me right now."

After a few minutes, Shaka felt Cera's embrace relaxing, and a bit of snoring, too. When he looked at Cera, he could tell that she was asleep. At that, he decided to go outside and explore the valley a bit on his own. So he stood up, carefully unwrapping the now-sleeping Cera from around his body, and set her down on the "couch" with her friends.

Then, once he made sure that the kids were still asleep, Shaka went outside the house on his own. He knew that many of the dinosaurs in the valley would likely be surprised by his appearance, having never seen his kind before, and would likely pry at him with questions, but he knew that as long as he answered them correctly, he could prevent any trouble.

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 **Finally...I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!**

 **Sorry about that hammy moment there, but seriously, it has been a WHILE since I've updated this story (more than two months, even). As usual, I'm going to explain anything that you might initially be baffled or surprised by.**

 **I know that all of you readers will be just as surprised as Shaka that COTTON exists in the world of TLBT, but then again, I've done my research, and according to it, cotton may have already existed while dinosaurs were still around. Of course, though, TLBT was pretty anachronistic in the first place, but I'll roll with it.**

 **Indeed, Shaka can Earthbend his home into shape like that, just in case you want to know. In fact, in the version of Earth where Shaka comes from, that's considered MODERATE-SKILL Earthbending.**

 **I know that you might not notice it, but in this fanfic, in contrast to the official TLBT series, where the gang all have American Accents (in the English Version, that is), here, though it doesn't change the text, really, if you were to talk to them, they definitely would not have pure American accents. That is because of a new idea of mine. And that idea is: what if the different dinosaur species in TLBT had accents corresponding with the areas of the world where their fossils were found in? So anyways, now, under this new idea, if you were to visit the TLBT gang, and actually be able to hear their voices, you'll notice that their voices have differing accents. If you were to hear Littlefoot speak, he would have an accent that sounds like all of the accents of the Western and Southwestern US were blended together, along with some Latino as well. That's because Apatosaurus was found in all over the Western and Southwestern US, and in Northern Mexico. Cera's voice has a similar accent, except that there's no Latino in her voice, as that is replaced by Canadian, as Triceratops had a more northerly range, not stretching down into Mexico, but instead up into Canada. Ducky...Ducky has a weird one. She speaks with an accent that sounds like Canadian blended with...Mongolian, due to the fact that one subspecies of Saurolophus was found in Western Canada, and the other was found in Mongolia. Petrie's accent is even more oddball, since he has an accent that sounds like it's taken a drunken tour through the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe, and that's because Pteranodon was found all over North America, and in several countries in Europe. Due to Tyrannosaurus having a very similar range to Triceratops, Chomper has a very similar-sounding accent to Cera's, so not much explanation is needed there. And then there's Ruby, who has the accent that sounds like the least of a blend of different accents, as Oviraptor was found exclusively in Mongolia, so she has an almost completely Mongolian accent. However, unlike most Real-Life English-Speaking Mongolians, she doesn't really have a problem with "Engrish" or getting "R" and "L" backwards. Now, for Spike, he DOES have an accent, but it will be revealed later on. Just in case you're wondering, though, the other dinosaurs also get accents, not just the gang. For example, there's a certain trio of teenage dinosaurs who used to bully the gang, but eventually learned their lesson the hard way, that will be appearing next chapter. One of them has a Scottish accent, one has an Australian Accent, and one has an American accent.**

 **Anyways, back to the story. You heard that right, Ducky's Father and Petrie's Father are both dead, and both died in unpleasant ways in front of their children, unfortunately. Now, for some more details about their deaths. Ducky's father died of an accidental poisoning when he ate berries from Belladonna, a type of flower that is appropriately nicknamed "Deadly Nightshade" due to being one of the most poisonous plants in the world, with the poison being in their berries. Once again, another plant from Real Life that exists in TLBT. And Petrie's father...well, he got hit down by flying rocks, so no other explanation needed there.**

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 **Soundtrack:**

34\. Washington (Peace) - Civilization 5 (PC)

35\. Alight - Fire Emblem Fates (3DS)


End file.
